


The Fool, the Huntress, and the War

by Weskai



Category: Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona Series, RWBY
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2020-11-15 06:33:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 30,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20861807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weskai/pseuds/Weskai
Summary: Three unsuspecting souls have been reborn into a new and chaotic world: the soul bound to death, the soul seeking truth, and the soul that longs for rebellion, all forced into a silent war that spanned Remnant for centuries. And at the same time, four young girls begin their paths to achieving their dreams. The wheels of fate have shifted, guiding the world into a new direction.





	1. Once Upon a Time

**Author's Note:**

> Author's note: Just a little sidenote: the Wild Cards will be a little bit ooc than how the fandom usually views them as they'll have their own strange quirks and personalities in the fic. This fic will also be darker than a usual crossover. Other then that, I'll draw a proper cover for this fic soon. Please tell me your thoughts. 
> 
> Also, please welcome ShinyKyu as this fic's beta reader! They will be helping me to keep this fic experience as error free possible! Go check them out on FF.net. 
> 
> Here's a link to my Deviantart of concept art of what the three Wild Cards look like in Remnant sta.sh/0kvtvjoeicz

A shimmering ray of light shot across the dead heavens, igniting a crumbling world of scattered gray and ruined earth. A great power had broken from atop the unmoving emerald tower, and yet just as the gleaming hope had so aggressively eaten away at the blackness, it too was swallowed by the never-ending abyss of darkness.

The ground beneath started to break as large pieces of earth began to be ripped and torn apart by the sheer force of gravity and launched into the chaotic air. Buildings twisted and warped, streets faded and withered, and lands that once flourished with life were now as barren as the arctic wastelands.

And in all this otherworldly carnage, watched a surreal, demonic eye from the fallen moon.

* * *

"Gah!"

"M-Minato, are you ok?" A shy voice echoed from the void. He opened up his eyes to strange, forgien surroundings. A cold sweat had slowly started to rolled down his back.

"Y-yeah…." The bluenette murmured groggily, gazing at the worried girl in front of him. Her large silver eyes shook and her thin brows furrowed upwards. He felt her observe him with a mixture of both worry and confusion.

"Are you sure you're not sick? I can call the others for help—" The girl fumbled in her words, scrambling for an appropriate reply, only to confuse the blunette even more.

"Ruby, I don't look that ill, do I?" Minato cocked an eyebrow, feigning an expression of confidence, forming a wide smirk on his face and transitioning from his previously tired-looking figure. Ruby was acting strange today. He had fallen asleep before, but not once had she ever questioned his cover.

"Well… you did seem kind of pale," The young girl reasoned. "Besides, I know you're hiding something behind that smirk. Yang always has one when she's up to no good."

"Oh? You mean like this?" Minato's face only widened more, but this time, it seemed to infect the girl as well. Suddenly, an intense wave of energy swept through the air as the young man pulled out two brightly-colored pieces of paper, which caused his friend to squeal and propel herself into the air. Her silver eyes started to shimmer in the evening sun at the sight of the large, bold letters that were printed onto the small strips of paper.

"A-a-are those tickets to the lastest Vale Weapon's Expo?!" Ruby carefully inspected the tickets in the boy's hands, as if checking if the world at present was nothing but a fleeting dream.

"In case you're wondering, these were the last ones left before they were all sold out." Minato watched the girl pinch both of her cheeks in sheer disbelief before he felt her grip onto his arms.

"Oh my gosh! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Minato, you're the best! I've been wanting to go ever since I was a kid! How did you get these?! They're super expensive!" She started to ruthlessly shake his arms up and down before embracing him in a tight bear hug.

"O-okay! Y-you can let go now!" Despite Ruby's small and frail-looking figure, her embrace had the collapsing force of several bear traps, which tightly locked around and squeezed the bluenette's diaphragm, causing him to struggle and fight for a breath of fresh air.

"Oh! Uh, s-sorry!" Ruby sheepishly backed away, realizing that she was slowly suffocating her friend.

"T-thanks!" Minato took a few breaths to recover, "I thought these would be a nice way to say goodbye. I'll be going to Beacon soon, so I took up a few more part-time jobs." He watched the girl's face mellow at the inevitable news, "We won't hang out like we used to.…" The excitement that had previously occupied her eyes had quietly faded, leaving a gentle sadness behind.

"I'll… miss you guys in Signal when you're gone. Both you and Yang. School won't be the same without you two around." Ruby gave an awkward smile, as memories of time gone by began to flood her mind. "No more lab explosions, random street brawls, or homework answer-swap sessions…." The huntress-in-training listed off, the last one being especially disheartening as Minato would regularly gave her answers to the hardest of questions.

"Come on, cheer up, Ruby," Minato faked the most genuine-looking smile he could, waving the two Expo tickets around. "You'll be in Beacon in no time. Now, how about we go see what amazing new weapons they have on display? Time never waits."

"R-right! I really, really want to see what they'll show in the demonstrations this year! And it'll be in person! I'm so excited!" Ruby, instead of wallowing in despair, chose to drag her friend by the arm and run off into the distance, fueled by a light sense of joy and excitement.

Minato followed Ruby into the sprawling jungle of the city crowd, and yet, unlike the smiling girl dashing forward into the sea of people, he had dropped his facade of a smile. Instead, what remained was a blank and tired face, no longer housing a soul in its broken, hollow shell. He saw Ruby wave to him in the abyss of pedestrians, which he responded back to with another of his comical smirks.

The cheerful girl ran off once again as the boy followed. Unbeknownst to him was the single teardrop and troubled expression that she had witnessed on his slumbering face just a few moments ago.

* * *

"Whoa! That plasma sword was so cool, oh my gosh!" Ruby spun around in circles through the city's streets, "Did you see how they used it to slay that Grimm? It went like this! And this, and this!" The bubbly huntress-in-training made several hand gestures, desperately trying to mimic the skilled movements demonstrated by the participants at the crowded Expo.

"Hmmm, I'd have much preferred the gun that shot out an entire picnic table," Minato said seriously. How the creators of that amazing contraption managed to cram an entire day's worth of food into a gun was an impressive mystery.

"What? No way! That sword way more awesome," the girl countered, mildly offended that anyone would choose a picnic gun over a sword manifested out of pure plasma energy.

Minato pulled open a glass door to the chime of an old brass bell, stepping into a local Dust shop in the area. Crystals of red, blue, yellow, and so on glittered in the light of the setting sun. Boxes and shelves were all stocked full of an almost endless variety of Dust. "Hey old man, long time no see," the blunette greeted the lone older man by the front store counter.

"Ah, Minato, Ruby! I still have some of that custom Dust for ya." The graying store keeper brought up a box full of Dust ammo and other assorted colorful crystals. "Here, you two have these free of charge. I heard you were graduating from Signal." The older man gave a kind smile to the boy.

"No, no! Mr. Clayden! We can't take all this!" Ruby tried to push the box of Dust back at the man, "Can we at least pay this at half price? It doesn't seem right to just take this…."

"No, it's alright, kids. You two have always been helping me around the Dust shop. This is the best I can offer to help you out. Save a little of that change for fun, yeah?" The storekeeper stood firmly on his offer.

"How about this?" Minato perked up, drawing the other two's attention. "Since Mr. Clayden insists on this being a gift and refuses a monetary offer, how about we help him around the store?" He turned to Ruby, "We won't be getting this dust completely for free, but instead at the cost of manual labor, so it's a win-win."

"That's a great idea, Minato! Mr. Clayden, can we please help out around your store? Please, please, please?" Ruby's eyes sparkled, displaying the softest of puppy eyes that could win over any human or faunus.

It didn't take long for the old man to cave in to her demands. "Alright, alright… you two can start organizing those boxes of Dust on the back shelf." He gestured to a still unopened, fresh shipment of cargo in the back corner.

Ruby sprinted to the back, gathering as many Dust crystals as she could, and quickly started to stock the shelves. Minato gave the storekeeper a nod before picking up several large shipments on his own. Despite his rather small stature compared to most of the other men in the city, he was still able to rival the strength of their strongest. Back in his days in Signal, he was often compared to the likes of Yang, who was able to easily lift several students up into the air simultaneously and without much effort.

"This goes here, right?" Ruby mumbled to herself, sorting through and organizing the Dust crystals in an ideal order. Minato felt a faint smile run across his face at the warm atmosphere of the humble Dust shop. It was the little things he could do to bring cheer and satisfaction to others that drove his tired soul. It gave him something to look forward to in his days in this foreign land that was not his own. And just as he thought he would bask in another moment of blissful peace, it was quickly shattered by a cold and piercing voice.

"Hand over the Dust, old man!" The sound of a cocked gun and raw steel passed through the tiny storefront. Minato grabbed onto the hilt of his weapon, hiding himself behind a large shelf of crystals. From what he could make out, he saw several black-suited men and what appeared to be their ring leader all aiming their weapons at the defenseless old man.

"Crystals, clean and uncut!" Another demanded, holding a sizeable burlap sack and gesturing to the shaking man. The weak figure of Mr. Clayden was both overshadowed and overpowered by the crude, suited men.

"P-please… you can take all the Dust you want, but leave some for me in the back! Business is tough nowadays—!" A loud bang rang in the distance, shattering a shelf made of wood and glass, only to be followed by a weak gasp.

"Did I say you could make demands, old man? Come on, we're robbing this store of every last drop!" A gleeful yet condescending voice chimed from the counter. Minato could feel a boiling rage start to bubble up from the pit of his stomach. He could see Mr. Clayden nervously gaze back in both his and Ruby's directions.

"Get away from Mr. Clayden, you creeps!" Suddenly, almost from out of nowhere, a crimson blur rushed past several of the criminals and rammed into one of them with the mouth of her rifle, taking several shots at the aggressor's chest that eventually sent him tumbling and crashing into the city streets. Soon, he was followed by another that was equally thrashed and ripped by the blade of a large, crimson scythe.

Ruby watched as the rest of the men pulled out their guns. She was ready to blast another of the suited men into oblivion when the ginger of the group forcefully grabbed the old storekeeper and aimed his cane at his head.

"Move again, kid, and his head goes flying with ya." The ginger's words were as cold as ice.

"M-Mr. Clayden!" The girl froze.

"Ruby! Don't listen to him—"

"Quiet you—!"

"Zio!" As if the single word was enchanted with some sort of magic, all of the lights of the shop cracked and shattered, shrouding the entire building in a cloak of darkness.

"What the—!?" The previous signs of the old man's presence were gone. Instead, it was replaced by a breath of hot steel that ripped into his side, with his head being gripped by a crushing force that slammed his body through the glass and onto the outside pavement. However, the assault wasn't over as his attacker started mercilessly bashing his face into the concrete, again and again in a never ending cycle.

One of the criminals raised their own gun and aimed at the two in the street, but was rushed down and earned himself a roundhouse kick in the head that sent him slamming into two of his comrades. Ruby, fueled by an equally raw anger, sped into a chaotic whirlwind of crimson rose petals, rushing her attackers into the cold air, opening up the blade of her scythe, catching and piling each of their bodies in its deadly grip, and sending a bullet hell into their weakening Auras before forcefully throwing them into the side of a hard, concrete building.

"Threaten someone again, and you won't just leave with a broken Aura…." Minato darkly whispered, his body weight still pressed onto the dying ginger. Cold, silver eyes dug into the helpless man on the ground.

"Tch!" Do you know… who you're messing with, kid…?" Despite earning a deadly blow to his body and head, the criminal on the floor still refused to admit defeat.

"Do you think I care?" The bluenette snapped back, twisting the ginger's arm and causing another yelp to sound.

"Minato, Ruby, you both alright?" Clayden called from his storefront in worry, seeing the pinned ring leader and several suited men nailed into a nearby building. However, instead of a formal reply, all were cut off by a sudden warm breeze filling the air and a raise in temperature of the pavement below.

"Haha, you'll see. You'll see soon enough…." Minato felt a chilling sensation run down his spine, the hairs on the back of his neck rising as the hot wind and choking air began to serve as a dire warning. Something big, something monstrous was coming as the dull clouds in the sky started to shift and dance while sounding out loud claps of thunder.

"What the hell are you going on about?" The enraged bluenette began pressuring the ginger, only to be met with a shrewd smirk and nervous laughter, almost as if the man was in fear himself.

"Ruby, move!" A howl of death shattered the unmoving silence, as a red-hot pillar of spiraling fire headed toward the small girl. Minato twisted around as fast as he could to save her. Ruby transformed into a crimson ball of petals to rush of the out way, but it was too late. Minato boosted himself with a Heat Riser before bolting off into the direction of his friend, using his body as a shield to cover her, crossing his arms and bracing for the blast.

"Minato! No!" Ruby was pushed out of the way of the flaming blast that rocked and rattled the earth beneath them, sending a forceful shockwave below the girl as she watched her friend become engulfed in a ball of fire that ate and ravaged the world around her. Her eyes began to swell, wet with tears, and her legs began to melt into noodles.

"See, Little Red? This is what you get for messing with the wrong crowd!" The broken gringer from before slowly crawled up from the ground, a mad fear in his crazed eyes, "Now that you've seen us, I'm afraid we'll have to end you as well. You know, to not get the word out—"

"Surt!" The scorching wall of flame from before started to swirl and morph, with the ground and earth shifting even more so than it previously did, as a massive pressure began to emerge from the raging fire. What was once an uncontrolled blaze had transformed into a graceful, tamed torrent of calm fire. Minato emerged from his golden cocoon, his silver eyes now glowing a deep red as a colossal humanoid charged the remaining embers in its blackened blade.

"M-Minato!" Ruby screamed in relief, but also in fright as another blast headed their way. She could make out an evil glow in the dark.

Twin tornadoes of embers began to spin and manifest around the bluenette, which soon transformed into a concentrated blast that started to melt his surroundings as they were heated with the energy of several suns.

"Ravage them!" Minato slammed down the ocean of blazing hell, which collided with an equally powerful blast of fire from the dark. The bluenette felt his feet slowly start to form a dent in the melting pavement and he charged even more energy into the blast as it started to push the other flame back. He pressured more and more, being reminded of the threats from earlier, until he had finally had enough of the little charade.

"Ragnarok…"

Roman Torchwick gaped, his mouth slightly ajar, and his eyes filled with a deep dread comparable to only those who had come close to the most gruesome of deaths. He watched the world slowly crawl to a halt as the river of flames from the bluenette doubled in size and overpowered the one from the darkness. For a second, he felt heat start to eat away at his clothes, and his field of view start to go red. However, just as he thought fate had made him meet his end, a flash of blue engulfed his form until there was no trace of his presence left on the battlefield.

Minato dropped to his knees, clutching his head in a searing pain, as a mixture of dead exhaustion and mounting stress forced its way into his system and spread like a deadly venom rushing through his veins that shut down most of his bodily functions and melted his mind. His previously calm state became a panicked one and his breaths quickened as the air around him became thinner and thinner and harder to take in. His body felt light and his vision began to morph and twist, distorting the burning world around him.

"Minato! What's wrong?! Please, Minato!" The boy failed to listen, the embers around him starting to fade.

Ruby tried supporting the boy, tears streaming down her cheeks as panic laced her eyes. Shock and astonishment drowned her in a sea of disbelief and fear— there was no way any of that just occurred. There was no way her friend was capable of what he just did. There was no way that ginger's comrade had that much destructive power.

In the small girl's attempts to revive the bluenette, she barely noticed a new figure approaching her. A blonde, bespectacled woman began to stroll closer, leveling herself with the young huntress-in-training.

* * *

Are you feeling better now, Ms. Rose?" A kind man in green came to the girl, sitting down in the waiting room of a small clinic, holding two cups of coffee in his hands.

"Y-yeah. But is he okay? He looked like he was having a panic attack and—" She desperately pleaded with the man for answers, her face a tired mess from the battle before.

"Please calm yourself, Ms. Rose. Mr. Arisato is pulling through. In fact, they have just determined him to be fit for release." He offered a cup to the huntress-in-training, who gladly accepted the drink along with the pleasant news.

"T-thank you, Mr. Ozpin. I-if you and Ms. Glynda weren't there to help us, then I dunno what we would've done.…" Ruby said shyly, still processing the chaotic events of the day.

"There is no need to thank us. It was the right thing to do, after all."

"Hey, Mr. Ozpin…" The girl gazed at the man, her hands balling into weak fists.

"Yes?"

"You train huntsmen and huntresses at Beacon Academy, right?" He nodded at her bizarre question. He noticed her entire body shaking.

"Of all the people that trained at Beacon…" She took some time to think, "... i-is there anyone with a power… like that? I-I mean are there Semblances that are that… destructive?" Ruby felt an invisible weight weigh over her heart. Not only had her long time friend survived and fired off a blast that could annihilate an entire fleet sent by Atlas, but their attacker had almost pulverized the both of them into charred cinders on the cold city floor.

"No. I must apologize, but there are no such fantastical Semblances at my academy," Ozpin admitted in honesty.

"Then, do you have any idea what they were?" That otherworldly summon by Minato, the mysterious figure in the dark; it all felt so foreign to her. It was almost as if they were powers belonging to a different reality.

"Magic."

"M-magic?" Although she had arrived at a similar conclusion earlier, she had denied such outlandish thoughts.

"Yes, Magic. Powers manifested without the aid of Dust. What you just witnessed tonight, Ms. Rose, is something that needs to be hidden from the public eye." Ozpin's tone grew darker as he finished his last words. The vibe he gave off was no longer that of a simple man. He observed the young huntress-in-training, knowing her face and expression signaled the lost question of 'why.'

"B-but wouldn't that type of power help the people? It can wipe away entire colonies of Grimm. Wouldn't that make the world a safer place?" She thought back to the death of her mother and the general bloodshed huntsmen had to endure to keep the country safe. A pinch of silent anger started to form in the back of her mind. Would her mother still be alive if such powers existed?

"Yes, I won't deny that such powers, when used in the right way, would do plenty of good. However, what do you think would happen if such destructive abilities were to fall into the wrong hands?" Ozpin explained softly, the wisps of steam from his drink disappearing into the cold air.

"The opposite would happen and… the attack from today," Ruby mumbled in realization.

"Precisely. The news of such unreal power would only induce mass unrest and panic. It would also go against most of human culture and countless religions," the headmaster added, sipping some of the last of his coffee.

"Then, what about Minato? He used magic right? Are you going to still admit him to Beacon?"

She watched him with a questioning eye, which amused the headmaster.

"Yes? Why wouldn't I admit him?"

"You won't do anything weird, right?" The gaze she held toward the man became increasingly uncomfortable for him.

"Weird? Pardon me, but can you please elaborate?" Ozpin returned an equally peculiar eye. Her next reply would both stun and frighten him with her dark imagination.

"Haul him off into a wacko lab somewhere and experiment on his body to see how he uses magic." Her tone was flat, dead, and devoid of any signs of life.

"P-please don't say such outlandish things, Ms. Rose. I assure you, he will be treated just as normally as any other student entering Beacon," the headmaster coughed, choking on the very last of his drink.

"Hey, Mr. Ozpin?"

"Yes?"

"May I have a request?"

"What of?" 'What could this small girl possibly ask for?' the headmaster wondered.

"I know this may sound rude but… can I attend Beacon along with Minato?" Ruby stood up from her seat with determined eyes, glittering silver meeting dark brown. "I-it's not that I want a free pass into Beacon…. l'll even go through the entrance exam if you want, but—" she straightened up and carefully picked her words, "I don't want something like this to ever happen to anyone ever again. And since I'm the only one who knows about his abilities, I want to help Minato, too."

What Ozpin had thought was a mere young girl minutes ago, had suddenly vanished before him as he noticed the soft light radiating from her silver-colored eyes. She no longer held the presence of a child. Rather, it was that of a grown and experienced huntress of many years. The fire from the young girl's eyes was enough to momentarily shock the headmaster, as it had been many years since he had experienced someone who was so passionate in stopping the evils of the world.

"And what if I refused? What will you do then?" He asked flatly. Will she start to throw the temper tantrum of a child? Or will she prevail and find another option?

"Then I can't assure what you told me today won't get out." Ruby continued her firm stance. Seconds ticked by, minutes passed, and all activity in the world seemed to halt. Then it happened.

"Fine. As of today, Ms. Rose, you shall be known as one of my students."

"R-really Mr—! I mean, Professor Ozpin?!"

"Yes, speaking as headmaster of Beacon Academy, I hereby admit you to my school."

"T-Thank you so much!" Ruby cheered, "I'll make sure to do my best! I won't let you or anyone down!"

"But, before we officially register you, I want to lay down a few special ground rules. First, you must honor your promise of protecting Minato," the man started to list off. "Second, you must study diligently and fulfill your duties as a huntress in training. And third and finally…" Ruby waited excitedly for the headmaster to finish, "don't forget to have fun. Despite your dreams, you are still a student. Your youth won't last forever."

Minato put a headphone to his ear, a small smile on his face. He could hear the chatter of an enthusiastic girl and an older man from the other side of the hall.

He was happy for his friend.

* * *

"Was it really wise to inform her about the existence of magic?" Glynda's face creased in annoyance, letting her frustrations be known by the headmaster.

"Well, it was for the best outcome. Withholding such information from Ms. Rose would have only damaged her in the future. Besides, I trust her to uphold her promise." Ozpin shut the door to the ship.

"And Mr. Arisato?"

Ozpin reached into his bag, pulling out a thick stack of neatly-stapled papers and went over several key sections. "I had the clinic run a few tests. It seems like Mr. Arisato's magical capabilities are completely detached from his Semblance and Aura."

"So his magic works on a completely different set of laws…" the woman concluded, narrowing her eyes. From the several years of research Altas had on Aura and the magic from the previous Fall Maiden, it was implied that one's Semblance, magic, and so on were all tied with one's Aura, and yet the lab results of the bluenette came up negative despite what all of their years of effort said.

"I would assume as well. But either way, I think we may have just found two possible counters to her…."

"Two silver-eyed students. One of them being destructive enough to even overshadow the current Fall Maiden." Glynda's eyes drooped, feeling sorry for the boy. "Such chaotic power will only bring misfortune to him in the long run."

"Yes, and that's why we must play our part, Glynda. We cannot let him fall to the same fate as Amber." Ozpin gestured to the craft for take off, commanding it to lift off from the earth and fly off into the empty sky. There was no celebration, no relief, and no cheer in finding a potential solution to a never-ending problem. Ozpin sighed in tired contemplation, staring out into the cold, starless heavens. Did his weapons of this silent war really have to be… two innocent youth?

* * *

A faint glow shone across the calm, black waters, reflecting specks of the shattered crescent moon. Creatures of Grimm scavenged and clawed through high rugged mountains and dead earth, gnawing and dragging behind the remains of what was once alive. Bleached bones and withered fabric littered the land, leaving behind only faded remnants of a fleeting past.

In this bleak and barren world lived a woman. She stood silently in the grand hall of a large castle, with skin as pale as death and eyes of glowing crimson that illuminated her in the peaceful darkness. She directed her blank gaze toward the two smaller figures before her, a young dark-haired female and a fair ginger-haired man.

And in the pale palm of her hand floated a small, blue pixie.


	2. Of Fools And Huntresses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was supposed to be longer, but I had to cut out its second half due to estimating that the finished product might turn out to be at best 10-12K plus. I want to keep these a manageable and digestible lengthen to prevent too much event cluttering and so on. At least at the start. Chapter 3 will be coming very soon and will be very fight heavy. Once again, please tell me what you'll thought.

"Late last night, Vale authorities were called to a Dust robbery gone wrong in downtown Vale when a building-sized explosion hit the air. So far, police have detained several armed men that are suspected of carrying out the operation and are currently under strict police investigation. According to the Vale police, the blazing inferno witnessed by multiple city residents was caused by a sudden ignition of several tons of stolen Fire Dust that quickly lost control under the suspect's possession while escaping from a local huntsman in the area."

Click.

"It was huge! I was coming home with my friends and we saw these guys being chased by another guy—"

Click.

"So what's your take on the Fire Dust incident, Dr. Quartz? There's been some neat rumors spreading around on the subject. From government cover-ups, to aliens, to even a new ultra-dangerous species of Grimm!"

Click.

* * *

"Oh, I'm so proud of my little sister going to Beacon!" A jolly blonde cheered, quickly wrapping her arms around a red-hooded girl and a tired-looking bluenette, clumping them together in a tight hug. "And with my brawl buddy too!"

"Y-Yang! S-stop! You're squishing me!" Ruby gasped for air, trying to escape from her sister's death grip. It was more potent than the combined strength of ten car-sized Grimm.

"Agreed! You're killing us!" Minato tried to slip away, before being forcefully dragged into another one of the older girl's roughhousing attempts. It was only when the two admitted defeat and stopped their futile struggles were they released.

"So, Ruby, how'd you convince the Headmaster to get you into Beacon?" Yang couldn't help but ask.

"Well, uh…" Suddenly feeling a heavy pressure on her chest, Ruby nervously fumbled for the right words, unsure of what to say and feeling the increasingly eager glare of her sister slowly encroach on the secrets of her mind.

"Don't tell me you challenged him to a fight." Yang gave a joking chuckle, though she became more serious as she continued to watch the girl struggle to form a coherent sentence. "You didn't actually do that, did you?"

"We ran into a leftover gang of Dust robbers on our way home and trashed them," Minato said, reciting the words Ozpin had left for him and Ruby to use in their story. "Headmaster Ozpin just happened to catch that exchange."

"You two did what?" The blonde asked in disbelief. "You're telling me that you two took down the leftovers from that big Dust explosion?" Surprise, awe, and intrigue all started to take shape on her face as she pressed the two for more answers.

"Y-yeah! Professor Ozpin was really impressed! It did take a full-fledged huntsman to stop them, after all!" Ruby squeaked, praying that her sister would accept their story, "We first went like this! And then this!" She then nervously went on to portray a flawed retelling of the fictional fight between her and the criminals, waving and swinging her hands in the air.

"Luckily, we were able to stop them before any more freak fires could happen." Before anyone in the small group could put in another word, they heard a new voice break into their conversion.

"Did someone perhaps mention something about a large fire?" A fair-haired boy joined the three, adorned in a uniform of what could only be described as the signature colors of Atlas, along with an obsidian blade strapped to his belt.

For a moment, there was an awkward silence between the youths, but it was not long before that same tension was pierced by the high-pitched cheer of a young girl.

"W-whoa! Is that a Lighting Dust-infused katana?!" Ruby's shout echoed throughout the entire ship, drawing the attention of several other passengers that all focused in on the new arrival in question. The young huntress-in-training bounced up and down, observing the sheath of the black-and-gold blade held by the new male. "Can I please, please see it, Mister? I promise I'll be careful!" Ruby begged, her eyes glittering like stars.

"S-sure. If you'd like." The stranger reached for his sword, gently grabbing the hilt to reveal a long, shining katana with blinding gold that reflected the rays of the sun from the sky. Its light spread across the room, leaving a soft yellow glow to slice across the ship's gray tiles, creating a rift between the three and the new arrival.

"It's sooooo pretty!" To say Ruby was mesmerized by the beauty of the sword was an understatement as she was blinded by its light. Gingerly brushing her hands across the smooth cold steel of the katana, she could already tell of the pristine quality of its build, from the passionate craftsmanship of the surface details to each and every one of the weapon's functions as an Eastern blade.

"Thanks! I helped make it myself" The stranger said shyly, instinctively taking a few steps back from the zealous girl.

"Does it have a name? What was crafting this like? Where did you—"

"Ruby!" Before the red huntress could terrorize the stranger, she heard two familiar people call her name.

"Oh! Uh… sorry! I tend to go overboard sometimes…. Your weapon is very cool." She turned back, finding both an annoyed Minato and an embarrassed Yang, both adamantly crossing their arms. Soon, a deep pink coated her face at making a fool of herself once again.

"No, no guys, it's quite alright," the stranger tried to assure the others with a kind smile, "I enjoy looking at weapons too. Reason why I made this katana." He put a hand to his head, rubbing his hair in a gentle back and forth motion.

"Really? You like weapons too?" In the span of a heart beat, a large weight dropped to the floor and a crimson scythe made entirely out of steel that included an attached firearm of some kind appeared before the crowd, its sharp blade just barely cutting into the tiles of the floor as its elegant crescent locked into place. "This is Crescent Rose! She's… kinda my baby. I made her myself!" Ruby said, almost looking at the sniper rifle as if it was her first-born child.

"Wow, the detail is incredible. And you made it yourself?" Judging by the hooded girl's appearance, the stranger suspected her of being younger than her peers. And yet, her scythe was just about one of the most impressively constructed weapons he had seen in years. Then, another set of steel sounded and came to life.

"Hey, don't forget about us!" Yang stretched out her arm and fired a blank round into the air from Ember Celica, lighting up a miniature fireball that exploded in the sunny morning air. It was not until a few security guards made their presence known did she hide away her prized golden gauntlets. "Ember Celica— oops!"

"That way!" Minato pointed in a random direction, before pulling an odd looking blade from his back. It held a powerful yet unexplainable presence, as if it had a life of its own. The sword, on the surface, seemed to resemble any other, if not were for the golden cup-shaped guard and the many specks of white feathers decorating its sides in a brilliant spiral. "Mine's nothing special, but it does the job."

"Are you kidding? That sword has been giving me the creeps ever since the first day we met." Not to mention the other strange things the bluenette had managed to do with that blade by his side; it had been years and Yang still couldn't figure out why that sword gave her such an eerie vibe. It was almost as if her instincts were trying to inform her of something.

"A pressuring vibe huh?" Minato could feel the other male's gaze linger on his weapon, "What's its name, if you don't mind me asking?" The vibe felt familiar.

"Lucifer."

"Lucifer?" Despite the male's tranquil demeanor, his heart skipped a beat at the ancient name, for it was not native to Remnant. "Well, mine's named Izanagi."

"Izanagi? That's pretty neat. Say, I'm Minato Arisato, and you?" It was his turn to be rattled. Minato stretched out a hand, which the other gratefully accepted, giving a firm shake, with serious eyes locked onto one another. Silver met silver and the world around them seemed to wither away, leaving nothing but those two in an infinite void, each fighting a thick tension to speak out a burning question from their minds.

"Yu Narukami, and what about you guys?" But just as great will had prompted the heated exchange, fear had swooped in to swifty snatch it away.

"Ruby Rose!"

"Yang Xiao Long. Nice to meet cha'!"

* * *

"So you're from Atlas? Why not just go for Atlas Academy?" Yang stepped off of the ship with the others, watching hundreds of others stream from the large sky vessels. Students from all sorts of backgrounds flooded the school grounds, transforming the once quiet campus into a flurry of traffic and commotion. Crowds gathered in zeal as people started to show off their weapons and helpful seniors guided the new arrivals into a grand assembly hall.

"They're a little too strict for my tastes. It feels more like a bootcamp than an actual school." Yu stepped out of the way for a few girls to pass. "I got tired of that just attending one of their junior training academies."

"I heard they force their students to be as rigid and lifeless as the androids they produce. I don't blame you for avoiding that fate." Minato joked, crossing his arms behind his head in a relaxed manner, a bit of snarkiness in his words.

"Which one? Beacon is known for its haunted dorms. Legend says there's even a dark, dark secret hiding under the school," Yu said nonchalantly, earning a frightened look from Ruby.

"H-haunted? You mean, as in ghosts and dead people?" The younger girl shivered at the thought of encountering any form of supernatural presence at night. Grimm and magic were at least tangible matters she could fight against; ghosts were a whole other story.

"Yep, the dorms that housed the first huntsmen that grad—"

"What are you doing?! Do you know who I am?! Get away from me, you dirty Faunus!" Before he could scare the hooded huntress-in-training any further, he was interrupted by the harsh yell of a female student and rough grunt of a male from nearby. Standing a few feet away from the freshmen group was a petite, elegantly-dressed girl clad completely in white, with only a few areas of red to provide some sort of contrast to her figure. Disgust showed all over her face as if she had just come across the world's ugliest horrors on the floor, and beside her, on the ground, sat a male cat Faunus.

"Hey, is that something you should say to someone?" A dark haired student with a large black bow atop her head then came to the boy's aid, irateness written all over her pristine visage and a small book held in her hands.

"What? Why are you defending this... this thing!" The well-dressed girl crossed her arms, stomping her foot on the ground, her face cringing in childish disgust. How could anyone be sane enough to defend such a filthy creature?

"He's not a thing! He's a person!" The dark haired girl spat back, clearly becoming more enraged, her hands balling into tight fists and a pain unlike anyone other ringing out in her voice.

"Are you brain dead? Faunus are the scum of the earth! They're criminals, liars, and cheats—"

"Shut it!" Without warning, a loud boom racked the air, not unlike the deep roar of thunder. The arguing pair could feel a slight wind coming from a katana wielding boy. Yu firmly approached the two with what could only be described as bitter rage. He then chided the girl in white, "How about you look at your own company first before calling others monsters!"

"W-what?!" Words as hot as molten iron seared into her chest, sending a wave of crushing pain rippling across her entire being. Her cheeks began to flush and the whites of her eyes turned a soft shade of pink. "I-it's not like the Narukami family is any better! You guys practically copy the same business practices established by my father!" The snow-white girl took a few steps back, pointing her finger at the boy, accusing him of the same sins that her family had committed.

"Which is why I don't walk around calling other people criminals and cheats. You're just perpetuating the same rumors and stories people have been passing around about the Atlas elite for years and giving them solid ground to stand on." Unlike his previous soft and gentle self, the boy held no kindness or well-meaning in his words.

"Why you—!" Insults, threats, and so on clogged her throat, but no sound came through because for the first time in her life, she really didn't know what to say. A sense of vulnerability washed over her like a bucket of cold water as she felt hundreds of eyes judging her from afar, a sizeable crowd beginning to gather in the distance. Their whispers, rumors, stories and hate all formed an unbreakable wall around her, trapping her heart and soul, making her feel like she was going to burst. "You're going to regret this, Yu Narukami! I'll make sure you rue this day!" She screeched like a caged and frightened animal, before quickly running away.

"Hey, you alright?" Ruby reached out a hand to the male Faunus, a worried expression lacing her face.

"Thanks, but no thanks." Instead of taking her hand, the dark-haired male stood up on his own, holding a bitter frown that didn't seem to change upon being offered help. In fact, he showed neither contempt nor gratitude to the others for getting rid of his verbal aggressor.

"Is there something wrong…?" Ruby asked confused, feeling daggers in the Faunus boy's eyes. She then stepped back.

"Yu Narukami, why did you just help a Faunus?" The boy pulled out a sharp white dagger, its steel slashing through the tranquil air, and pointed it at the gray-haired male. "Aren't you with the Atlas elite? What do you intend to gain by helping me?"

"Dude! What's your problem?! We just helped you!" Yang snapped at the lone figure, raising her fists in a battle stance, while both Ruby and Minato did their best to hold her back.

"Nothing, I only want humans and Faunus to be treated equally." Yu said, slightly holding up his hands to show he was unwilling to fight the other. However, instead of coming to a fair understanding as his reply intended, it only angered the dark-haired boy. His cat-like ears shot up along with his messy raven hair, his face creased and his brows furrowed downward.

"So you were only using my heritage as a leverage for your own social status," the cat Faunus spat venomously. "Tch, you're just as vile as the rest of them."

"Hey! Come back! Come back here, you jerk!" Yang flared up her Semblance, flaming yellow Aura surrounding her figure as her eyes became a bright shade of hot crimson. She struggled to reach the cat Faunus who had turned his back, screaming, kicking, and fighting the people that locked her in place.

"Sis! Please stop! Punching him will get you nowhere!" Ruby screamed, barely avoiding a rage-fueled fist while clinging to her older sister.

"She's right! Fighting that guy will only make things worse!" Minato pleaded with the fiery blonde, hands tightly wrapped around her waist to prevent her berserker rampage from reaching the disappearing male.

"Minato, I swear, if you keep—!"

"Yang, that's enough. Your friends are right." Yu put a hand on her shoulder with a stern look on his face, which eventually made the girl settle down and her muscles fall limp.

"And why should I? We tried helping him and this is what we get? Shouldn't you be the one wanting to punch him in the most?" Yang reasoned, still refusing to retract Ember Celica to its normal, dormant state. A large fire still burned in her eyes as she stared into the grey, tranquil pools of the other.

"Because… there are people like that in the world. And… it's hopeless to try and change their perspectives." His last few words were especially heavy, his eyes downcast and before the blonde could argue anymore, he quietly distanced himself the group.

"Y-Yu! Hey, wait!" Yang grasped at the empty air, hands trying to break free, but by the time she had, the boy was gone.

"We're sorry, sis… he just looked like he didn't wanna be bothered." Ruby apologized, comforting her older sister. She sympathized with her pain.

"We should head to the assembly hall for now. It's the only thing we can do." Although it might have been a bit cold, Minato still had to remind the two siblings of what they were really here to do, earning him a flash of red from the corner of his eye.

Yang's glare lingered on the bluenette, a subtle yet malignant silence invading the air and leaving both in a heated inaudible standoff.

Minato made sure to have a neutral face throughout the entire exchange, blocking the other off from the path to the campus.

"Fine… let's head to the assembly…. But the next time I see that cat Faunus, I'm nailing him in the face!"

"Do what you want." The bluenette shrugged and started to walk with the others.

* * *

He tossed and turned under an ominous jade sky, feeling himself drifting through an infinite abyss of darkness. A cold moon hung above, its harsh rays streaming down and barely illuminating his dead surroundings. Ghoulish green and tainted red dotted across the land for miles on end and seemed to stretch on forever into the unknown of the weary blackness, tarnishing the once vibrant earth.

A deep-seeded dread started to rise from the pit of his gut as he broke open his eyes, one hand clasping his mouth. Blood rushed to his ears and he could hear the loud distinct thumps of his erratic heartbeat roughy crashing against his ribcage from his chest in the long, sleepless night. He quickly made his way to the nearest restroom and watched several glassfulls of a vile substance begin to pour from his mouth. Gasping for short breaths of air and feeling cold drops of sweat roll down his face, he turned on the tap to release to a rushing stream of water that he swifty splashed onto his face.

Minato gazed at the sunken figure in the mirror, seeing a hollow shell of his own reflection. Matted hair, dark eyes, and a tired frown all plastered across an old and withered face, making him a far cry from his usual confident persona.

He put a hand to his cheek, observing the disheveled stranger before him—

"Minato…?" He stopped, "Are you in there?" He heard a voice call out to him.

"..." He turned, remaining deathly silent.

"I know you're there… it's me, Ruby," the voice fumbled. "I-I just want to talk, Minato. Please come out of there. I saw you tossing and turning and tearing up in your sleep again…."

Ruby stood in the grand deserted halls of the building, lights dim and shadows cast upon the once illuminated passages and doors. The whole school had fallen silent after the stroke of midnight, leaving not a soul awake on its serene campus. She waited and waited, alone in solitude, gazing at the unmoving door laid ajar. And just when she thought she had lost all hope, a few specks of azure light emerged from the darkness. A low buzz could be heard as tiny sparks of yellow danced across the air, creating a starry display. Glowing balls of light scattered off into a million pieces, showering the girl in a bath of gold, all lead by the shape of a miniature human in the blackness.

"Did you enjoy my fireworks show?" As if on cue to an unknown audience, Minato appeared from the emptiness, a tiny, winged female in the palm of his hands. The small creature fluttered in the air and eventually landed on Ruby's arm, putting a small smile on her face.

"What… is she?" Ruby found herself curiously observing the alien lifeform, "Is she… part of that summoning magic?" She did not appear to be a Grimm, nor did she resemble any animal of Remnant.

"Quite correct." The bluenette gave a cheeky smile, "Her name's Pixie, one of the very first summons I obtained."

"So it isn't a part of your Semblance after all…." Ruby concluded. "Does this mean you have more of them? Including the giant sword-guy from yesterday?" She saw him give a grin and a nod.

"I had to keep them all a secret. You know what Ozpin said." He explained.

"Minato?" The girl couldn't tell why, but she felt that her friend was acting… off.

"Yeah?"

"Who are you…?" For whatever reason, the boy before her felt distant, as if they were complete strangers. A mixture of confusion, astonishment, and fear gripped her heart as she tried to make sense of her situation. All of the time she had spent with him as a child and the memories they made together seemed to become blurry and muddled. For how long did he bare this power alone? How young was he when he realized that he would be hunted down for such fantastical abilities? Who was he, and where did he come from? And lastly, she shivered when imagining an alternate world where that ginger criminal's group somehow managed to get ahold of her friend.

"...Would you believe me if I said I came from a different world?" The revelation became clear and it took her a minute to process his words. There was no point in him hiding this fact anymore.

"Another world…? I guess that would explain your abilities…." If the bluenette had told her this truth only a few days before, then she would have believed him to be insane.

"I don't remember what happened to me in my own world. Just that I slowly regained my abilities and memories as a child in Remnant," Minato gave a slight chuckle, only giving a half-truth about his surreal circumstances.

"Your world… what was it like? Did you have to fight there too?" Ruby found herself pondering about the possibilities of other universes, where the rules, laws, and so on were all so very alien to her own. Were there places where people weren't regularly terrorized by the creatures of Grimm? Were there places where people regularly lived in peace and were free of the barbaric bloodshed of hundreds of huntsmen and innocents?

"Well… I would say my life back then was pretty similar to what it is now." Something had changed yet again for the bluenette. He was becoming more sluggish in his movements the more he reminisced about his past. "I fought stuff that wanted to harm others and attended school on the side. Not a combat school, though."

"So you had a fair share of troubles back home, too?" Ruby mumbled sadly, "I wish there was a place where no one would have to fight off anything just to survive. A place where everyone could live freely and however they wanted." She recalled the memories of her childhood with her mother, where every day was bright and peaceful. How often she wished that peace would last forever. A world free of Grimm and the need for huntsmen.

"Same here. I'd rather trade these abilities for a normal life. One where I don't have to fight." The irony of what the bluenette just spewed out wasn't lost on him, as he realized that those exact same powers were the reason he began to appreciate his old life in the first place. It was not until reality literally came down on him did he understand the blessings of his past.

"Hey, Minato?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you tell me your reason for becoming a huntsman again?" He noticed her face significantly darken.

"To help people. It's all I can do for a world that fostered me." He added at the end, making his reasoning seem more convincing. In reality, it was the only thing he was called to do. "Why ask? Something up?"

"You remember how we met those guys earlier? The pony-tailed girl and that Faunus guy?" Ruby gazed at the bluenette worriedly.

"Those two? Yeah." If he was not mistaken, the cat Faunus gave off a similar vibe as Yu did. Although, his aloof and hostile nature made him the exact opposite of the gray-haired swordsman. Minato remembered staring into the raven male's eyes, orbs burning with an exhausted fire that reflected his distorted form. In some ways, it reminded him of his mirrored image from just a few moments ago.

"Why do you think they want to become huntsmen?" Ruby continued with eyes downcast, "I mean, they just seem…" She failed to find the exact words.

"They don't look like they're just in it for just the job, right?" Minato understood where the girl was coming from. "People do have their own selfish reasons: money, fame, honor, and so on," the bluenette did his best to explain, "but those things also attract more people to the profession, so I wouldn't call it a completely bad thing. It keeps the world going, you know?"

"Guess not everyone is on the same page after all." Deep down, Ruby had known about this fact for a while, but the pure innocence of slaying monsters and helping others was so instinctual for her nature that she had often overlooked the more realistic sides of the profession. She smiled to him a sad smile, "When I said I wished for a world devoid of Grimm and huntsmen, I really meant it. Even if it is impossible…."

'And I'd wish for a world without Nyx,' Minato thought. He continued to chat with the red-colored huntress-in-training throughout the night, not a soul to be seen in the deserted halls.


	3. The Exam and the Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally Chap 3 is here, the last scene was actually not intended to be that long but I got a little carried away pft. The three Wild Cards are finally showing some of their personalities...as always, tell me what you'll thought in the reviews.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors. And today, your abilities will be evaluated in this forest." Ozpin spoke.

A warm breeze swept from above and through the barren rocks of the mountain side, clashing with the cold winds of the chilly forest air. It gently rustled the fluffy green foliage of the great emerald trees that thickly obscured the land below, hiding the many hidden dangers of its murky hollows.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard from the upperclassmen about the assignment of teams. To answer that question, each of you will be given teammates... Today." Glynda instructed.

A group of eager youths stood on the side of a tall cliff, each waiting in anxious anticipation. Some readied their weapons, while others positioned themselves in a more defensive stance. Many looked as nervous as could be about their very first official exam at the prestigious academy. An armored blond stood first in the line of people ready to be launched and fearfully clung onto his shield. Another, more well-prepared youth with short brown locks, crossed his arms in smug confidence about the upcoming trial.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." Ruby could feel Ozpin's eyes linger on her, and then a certain bluenette in the crowd, making the huntress-in-training take on a more serious expression. She had to meet eyes with Minato, no matter the cost. "After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy anything in your path. It is for your own survival that you must do so." After further explanations on the rules of the exam, Ozpin pushed a command on his interface, and countless students started to be launched into the air.

Ruby felt the ground below her start to violently rumble and shake as the small pebbles beneath her came to life in a sporadic dance, all accompanied by a flash of smoke that shot into her face and signaled for her to reach for the rifle on her back. The young huntress-in-training felt a massive push from below, springing her entire body into the heavens while she quickly unfolded her graceful crescent scythe. She started spinning and twisting in the sky so rapidly that she was covered in a whirlwind of roses, which lifted her into the atmosphere and created a mini tornado that ravaged the unsuspecting foliage below until she was in a moment of zero gravity. Unraveling herself from her windy cocoon, she extended the reach of her weapon to the max, creating a large lance that rushed down through sheer force of gravity and sliced into its unsuspecting target on the ground, severing the body into two, cleanly divided halves.

However, just as she was about to finish her landing, she retracted the scythe head into its normal position before swinging and clashing roughly with another incoming blade, creating a flurry of amber sparks as she barely dodged its deadly onslaught. But the attack was not finished, as she was then blown back from the sheer power of the hit.

"Are you trying to kill us?!" Ruby heard a bratty shout from above her, horror lacing her face as she saw eye to eye with a rapier-wielding girl in the trees. It didn't take her long to process the gravity of her situation. She froze. "Well? Don't tell me that last attack managed to destroy your brain, too." The snow-white girl crossed her arms, demanding an explanation.

"We met eyes…." A pinch of anger surged from the hooded girl's heart, realizing the person in front of her was the foolish student from yesterday.

"So you're blind too? Of course we've met eyes—!" The bratty huntress-in-training stopped, "Wait! Weren't you with that Narukami guy from yesterday?"

"Look, I don't want any trouble, ok?" Ruby decided to shut the girl up, cutting into her words, "I'll say sorry for running into you like this and let's just leave it there ok? I need to find someone, so can we please pretend we didn't meet each other?" The red scythe-wielder said firmly, hoping and praying Ozpin didn't catch the two on camera. She needed to find Minato.

"Ugh, are you implying that I'm not worthy enough? It is that Narukami dimwit again?!" Instead of the young girl's reply quelling the anger of the other, she became even more flustered, to the point where her snow-white complexion became a heated red.

"No, no! I'm just saying we might be better off with different partners!" Ruby yelled back. This girl was starting to make her lose her cool. Time was of the essence if she was going to meet with her friend before anyone else. It was a promise to herself and the headmaster.

"So you're saying that I'm not good enough!"

"No!"

"You're lying!"

"You're crazy!" Ruby snapped back, finally through with the idiot in front of her. However, instead of earning another verbal onslaught from the delusional huntress-in-training, it was replaced by a loud roar and the subtle, but noticeable, vibrations of the earth. "Great, now look what you've done…."

"What? How is it my fault—?!" Both of the girls readied themselves, feeling the approach of multiple Grimm in the shady hollows of the forest. Ruby raised her scythe in defense and her temporary partner held up her blade in overwhelming agitation. Just as another calm breeze swept by, out came a large group of bear-like Grimm from the undergrowth.

* * *

Yu dashed and raised his shining blade, slashing through countless Grimm with the hot metal cutting into their feeble bodies and cleanly ripping them through not unlike a knife through hot butter. A bolt of yellow lighting trailed behind him and quickly dissipated into the chaotic atmosphere.

Leaves swirled and folded in the wind as a dark hook shot from out of nowhere and grabbed onto an Ursa, yanking upwards and swinging and slamming its body into a nearby tree, where it was then diced into small obsidian pieces that evaporated into nothingness.

"Hey, need some help?" Yu said to the figure hiding in the trees, running through another panicked Grimm. "I know you're there!" He could feel the other observe quietly. Then, just as the swordsman was about to take a surprise attack to his back from a charging boar-like creature, a silver dagger came plunging down, piercing through its thick, white armor and sending it rolling and tumbling into the earth.

"Don't slow me down," came the reply from the shadows. Out strolled a frowning male cat Faunus, another dagger held tightly in his hand.

"Nice to know you're not a complete asshole." Yu shrugged before returning to an attack stance, but unlike before, no creatures of despair came running to his blade. In fact, it felt like there were no signs of life whatsoever within the whole area. His long-time combat instincts told him that something was off in the air.

"In no way does this mean that I accept you as my partner." The dark-haired Faunus's ears twitched in anxious anticipation, tiny hairs standing up on his back.

"You hear anything?" Yu noticed the other male focus with absolute concentration.

The breeze started to pick up, giving the forest a haunting atmosphere.

"The sky…" The cat Faunus's eyes narrowed, raising his dagger. "Something's coming— move!" Suddenly, with only a split-second notice, both huntsmen-in-training sprung out of the way, hearing an ear-splitting screech from above and a mammoth-sized bird crashing head-first into the earth. It decimated the ground below and sent a wave of soil and rock several feet up into the air, creating a meteor-sized crater. They watched the creature struggle feebly to move its crippled and misshapen wings, littered with gruesome gashes all over its dark body, as it gave a desperate howl of pain.

"Is that what you were talking about?" Yu furrowed an eyebrow, watching the weak Nevermore fight for its life.

"No, you idiot, the thing killing it." The Faunus whispered, sensing a great pressure from atop the sad creature. It was not long before they saw a speck of blue and heard a resounding ring of metal, a blade driving itself deep into moist flesh, and a demonic roar of death from the dying Nevermore.

"Minato…?" Yu glimpsed from the bushes, seeing the bluenette pull out his Scroll from his pocket and take what could only be described as a selfie next to the downed creature, posing in a victory stance and grinning at the camera.

"You have got to be kidding me…." Cat ears twitched once again, eyes wide in shock.

The bright flashes of the Scroll lit up the youngster's face. His poses became more and more ridiculous as time went on, and finished with him lying down and raising the front camera, flashing its lights toward the sky with a wide smile on his face. The photos developed before his eyes, each one more tilted and distorted than the last, until he saw a shadowy blur slowly appear in his screen's view. Its shape became more and more clear as a large black beak made its way into the frames and a massive force of wind lifted up his hair.

A second Nevermore swooped down from the sunny heavens and opened up its mouth to devour the boy lying on the earth, only to be halted at the last second by a shining blade plunging deep into its throat, followed by a tiny flicker of light that captured the moments of its swift demise. A flurry of coal-colored feathers gently rained down from the air, creating an illusion of soft, black snow. Then, just when everyone thought the encounter was over, hundreds of midnight-black spots emerged from the clouds, enveloping the sun in a cloak like the night. A fleet of demonic Nevermore all howled in chilling unison and dove for the boy.

"Oh shit…."

* * *

"So, your name's Weiss?" Ruby dashed into an Ursa and slashed at its chest with her oversized weapon before twisting the polearm around and piercing its sturdy flesh with the backside of her scythe.

"That's Weiss Schnee to you!" Weiss span the revolver-like mechanism on her blade, covering it in a red mist before setting up countless black and white glyphs that slid her into an oncoming row of Grimm, and splashed a sudden wave of flames that scorched their feeble ranks.

"Ruby Rose!" The scythe wielder replied in the heat of the battle, dodging the raw claw of an Ursa that aimed for her neck. However, instead of recovering and dealing with her attacker, she saw a flash of yellow and heard something forcefully smash into rock.

"You guys doing alright?" Yang waved, charging out with a familiar-looking dark-haired girl.

"Yang!" Ruby zealously welcomed her older sister, her eyes lighting up at finally meeting someone she knew. "And you're the girl from yesterday." She turned to the huntress-in-training with the large dark bow.

"Blake Belladonna." Although she spoke little, Blake held a faint smile on her face, effectively expressing her mood at meeting her partner's younger sister.

"And Noraaaaaaaa—! Run, Ren!" Yet another unfamiliar face burst onto the scene when everyone heard a scream and a rumbling sound from a stray line of trees in the air. Soon, a ginger-haired girl seemed to appear from out of thin air, wearing a horrified expression with an exhausted dark-haired male behind her.

"Nora… please!" The boy reached out his hand to call for the energetic huntress-in-training to stop, panting and sweating from whatever monstrosity they had been dealing with. However, it didn't take long for that answer because just after the two emerged from the trees, another pair of shouts sounded, and along with it came a charging black-and-white scorpion that bowled over anything and everything in its path.

"Jaune! This way!" A fair, armored blond came clumsily flying out of the bushes, followed by a spear-wielding female with fire-red hair.

"Probably should have said that earlier, Pyrrha." The blond groaned, painfully clutching his arm and face despite his thick armor.

"It's just one Grimm, right?" Yang smirked, bumping her fists together, "Come on guys, we can take this."

The scorpion-like Grimm roared, stomping flat a row of trees that dared to stand in its path.

"With this many people around, I'm sure it'll go down in no time," Blake carefully calculated, especially with some of the students in their ranks. Everyone readied their blades. Taking down this creature would be the only way to quickly advance to their item-retrieval objectives.

"Everyone ready?" Pyrrha questioned, raising her shield and earning an array of nods.

"As if a Grimm like this would slow me down." Weiss fired up a single a white glyph, but as she and the others were about to dash in head on, their surroundings suddenly darkened.

"What's happening?" Ruby felt the world go black as what appeared to be a midnight blanket obscured the bright Remnant sun, followed by a resounding set of howls that blared far and wide into the haunted green forest and chilled the girl to the bone.

"I-it's a horde of Nevermore!" Jaune yelled in terror, vaguely making out spiked wings and massive coal-colored beaks from the air. An equally stunned set of faces pointed upwards at the fleet of death above. Some even froze in awe of their enviable end. But there was something more.

"Akira! Yu!" A bluenette was seen running amongst the winged Grimm. A sword dug tightly into one of the colossal avians, forcing it to wildly jerk in the air, ramming its body into many of its kin, while a raven-haired male extended what looked to be the line of a grappling hook, guiding and clumping together several birds into one large projectile that was then spun at blinding speeds. It collided into, smashed, and decimated anything it came into contact with until it created a large hole in the sky. Following the next set of orders, Yu grabbed the line that tied and bound the Grimm ball together and sent a golden jolt of electricity that quickly surged through each of their bodies, frying them completely from the inside out.

"Guys! Run for it while you can!" Charred bits of Nevermore dropped from the sky, along with a dark blue and golden blur that stabbed into the giant scorpion Grimm currently charging at the group, killing it in a single blow.

"We can't just leave you guys like that!" Yang shouted amongst the chaos, watching the other two still rushing around in the air.

"Yeah! If we all die, we die together!" Nora proclaimed, switching her canon into gun mode.

"Are you people out of your minds?!" Weiss ended up being the voice of reason, "Do you guys even remember what we're for?!"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!" Yang snapped back, "Are you saying we should just leave them up there to die?"

"No, you dolt! I'm saying we should all complete our objectives, get the other two, and leave!" The snow-white girl argued, seeing no point in doing extra combat.

"For once, I agree with Weiss." Ruby said seriously, "Everyone! There's no point in fighting this pack of Grimm. We were only assigned here to do one thing!" Her speech was meant to filter in some reason to the desperate group, though the Nevermores were getting more and more agitated in the air.

"It would be impossible to take on all of them at once," Ren said in tired breaths, still recovering from his last battle.

"Guys, listen. I want some of our more exhausted members to be helped and paired with someone else," Ruby spoke up, "Then, I want our strongest to guard the front and rear of our escape with the others in the middle."

"I've got Ren!" Nora cheered, supporting her hesitant friend while Pyrrha did the same for a half-dead Jaune.

"I'll take the rear!" Yang volunteered with Blake, who both ran to the back, while Weiss, Ruby and Minato took up the front.

"Weiss, I need you to do something if they fall." Wind clashed and battered the young girl's cape and hair, forcing it to flutter in the breeze as the tight knit formation of students ran for their lives amidst a hundred screeching Nevermore that tailed their every move from the air.

"And what's that?" The rapier wielder shot a round of Ice Dust into an approaching Ursa, knocking it to the side.

"Use your glyphs—!" Almost without warning, shock momentarily overtook everyone's eyes, seeing two humanoid figures plummet from the azure sky, quickly descending from hundreds of feet in the air. The snowy heiress narrowed her eyes, concentrating on the falling forms above. Just as she was about to make her mark, a large beak flew forward and caught one of the vulnerable shapes.

"No, no, no!" Weiss watched in dread at the Nevermore crunching on the figure. The rapier wielder shook and lost focus, causing the already deployed glyphs to be shattered in the process.

"Focus! I know for a fact that Yu can take care of himself! I fought with him!" Minato assured the heiress, trying to ease her fears, "We have to trust him."

"O-ok! I get it!" Signs of embarrassment and frustration started to make its way onto her face, forcing her to go back to creating her glyphs in the sky. Eventually, she was successful in at least catching the Faunus boy from before, letting him use the floating black platform to make a more adjusted landing. "Got him!"

But the relief would only last so long, because just as the black figure landed safely, the one from before broke free from the jaws of the beast with a flash of yellow. A clear shield-like substance flickered around his body.

"You guys have to catch him!" Pyrrha warned from further back, "He looks like he's on the last of his Aura!"

"Ughhhh! Yu Narukami! You owe me one!" Weiss shouted, enraged beyond belief. Reaching her hand forward, she formed the largest obsidian glyphs she could muster to help slow the boy's rapid plunge into the afterlife. Glyph after glyph passed until the heiress was truly at her limit, bullets of sweat trailing down her face as she kept up the mammoth feat.

Thankfully, as Yu reached rock bottom, a familiar black line managed to yank him to the ground and to safety.

"Everyone, grab one!" Came a voice from further ahead. A raven-haired male tossed the group a set of what resembled chess pieces. The frantic party gladly accepted the gracious offer and moved on their way, while both Yu and Akira joined the group.

"Hey Yu, are you ok? Wanna join the middle?" Yang waved from the back, shooting a large blast that deteriorated a swooping Nevermore.

"Yu, your Aura's low. I don't recommend fighting unless you want to get seriously hurt." Pyrrha suggested in concern, still running with Jaune propped up on her shoulder.

"No, guys, I'm alright! I can still help!" The gray-haired huntsman-in-training outstretched his blade and kept pace with the others, slashing away a few minor land-Grimms' attempts to reach the middle group.

The small party of students made haste, running for their lives. Multiple pairs of shoes trampled past the dry forest grounds, carrying hundreds of their deadly pursuers in tow. They ran, ran, and ran through the never ending line of trees until they saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Suddenly, the front of the group jolted to an abrupt stop, causing the next two rows of people to stumble forwards and knock the already flabbergasted few who stood before a steep, mountainous canyon.

"Ruby!" Minato reached out and caught the girl by her arm, preventing her body from plunging into the depths. The boy held onto her with all his might, while his classmates backed him up by quickly firing and pushing back the encroaching flock of Grimm. Some headed to a nearby bridge and into an area full of ruined buildings and crumbling pillars, while others fought bravely to slow the ravenous black wave.

"We're surrounded!" Blake called out, shifting her weapon into gun mode and igniting a hell storm of yellow sparks that burned and forced the monstrous bird back. It let out a sick howl as it dived at the obsidian huntress-in-training, launching its sharp feathers in her direction. Thankfully, she was saved by the shield of a red-headed girl who then threw her spear, piercing the left side of the giant Grimm's wing.

"What are you doing?" Weiss shot forth a storm of icicles, accelerating their speed via Time Dilation before shooting them forward to pierce a few smaller Nevermores in the heavens.

"Helping to lessen the problem." Yu stabbed his golden katana into the ground, conjuring up a wall of solid ice to encase his opponents in a sprawl of blue crystals, and sliced and collapsed the artificial pillar into the cliffs below. However, this would only be the beginning, as he heard a large pop and crack from his side and saw another, even more pristine fortress of white.

"You think you're the only one who can do this?" Weiss scoffed, zipping forward and delivering a death blow with the sharp edge of her blade to the already incapitacted Grimm, exploding the colossal ball of ice.

Ruby swung her scythe upwards, slashing another set of small Nevermore, firing off countless rounds of her Dust bullets in the process, and killing another pair of birds that fell to the earth. "Minato, we can't go on like this, we need a plan!"

Minato, after wrestling his blade free from an oncoming Nevermore, edged his back behind the scythe wielder's. It was then that he had an idea from observing the battlefield. "I've got something, but dunno if you'd like it!"

Ruby saw an eruption of white crystals from the bridge, "You mean we use those, right?"

"That, and something to lure them all into one place." Minato scanned the field for anyone, or anything that would likely fit the bait candidate, but only came to one conclusion. "Look, I'll head to the center—"

"No, you're not!" She gave him a hurt glare, reminding him of the fire incident from before, "I don't care if you're from a different world."

"Fine, then what do you suggest we do?" The bluenette questioned, watching the others become less and less agile in dodging the Grimms' attacks. They only had so much time.

"I-I…" She fumbled and racked her mind for an answer, but no clear solution came through. She looked to him in concern.

"I know something that'll work." A third voice had interrupted the two, accompanied by the appearance its raven-haired owner, a serious frown stuck to his face.

"Are you sure about this?" The silver-eyed girl pleaded, despite not knowing the Faunus well.

"If those idiot instructors threw us to the wolves, then yes. It's better to get this over with." Akira replied coldly, "Gather everyone else so they don't get in my way."

"Will do." Minato nodded.

* * *

"You want me to do what?!" Weiss objected, but had no other option besides accepting the party's dire circumstances, looking around to the others' distraught faces and weakening fighters.

"If Weiss doesn't want in, then I can hopefully pull this off myself." Yu offered to take both of their places, which flustered the heiress.

"Did I say I wouldn't be participating?!" She stomped on the ground, pointing her rapier at the boy.

"Alright everyone, if you have any spare Dust left, please hand them to me!" Ruby called in a hurry, receiving several handfuls of the colored tubes that were left from the desperate group.

"What are you guys planning to do with it?" Yang asked, along with a few others who wondered the same thing.

"Guys, gather up. Here's the plan." Minato came out from a row of bushes.

* * *

Weiss laid down a row of glyphs on a bridge made of ancient stone, skidding past a darkened sky of Nevermore that tried cut through her form. It was then followed by two more figures that slid across the crumbling structure, avoiding countless rains of dagger-like feathers that ravaged the area. Stopping on a wider area of the bridge, Weiss raised her balde.

"Akira, now!" The heiress yelled, seeing a few birds already heading for the three in the center, but there was only silence. "Hello? Remnant to Faunus-!

Yu watched the dark-haired huntsman-in-training subtly shake, his teeth grounding tightly and his pupils a slit of their original, rounded black. A fist curled to the point where it was now white as bone and a subtle shift in the air raised his hairs.

"Come at me, you worthless sons of bitches!" a growl of deep-seeded loathing exploded from the center, along with a wave of pure darkness that stopped every Grimm in its tracks, "Catch me if you can!"

"Is he insane…?" the heiress mumbled. But there was no time to think, as in a blink of an eye, a chorus of dread rang across the forest and the hordes of Nevermore from the heavens charged down from every corner of the world.

"Weiss, get ready!" Yu warned and dug his blade into the rough stone, feeling their plate begin to rumble in the aftermath of the strange wave.

Soon, a flock of Grimm birds rushed down and roared, cutting through the air with their sharpened beaks, tearing through each other to devour the three sitting ducks on the platform—

"NOW!" The two casters slammed their weapons into the ground, manifesting a sprawling wonderland of white ice that exploded from the bridge to overtake the sky, driving its sharpened cold spikes into the Nevermore. It spread and ate away around them until it bloomed into a frozen lotus-like structure that reached miles up into the air, catching its enemies in its chilly icy prison.

"Ruby, are you ready?" Minato felt the wind rushing in his hair as he clung onto a Charmed Grimm bird, soaring toward the blazing sun and rapidly ascending into the clouds like a sonic jet, its feathers battered by the air currents.

"Yeah! I'm good when you are!" The red huntress-in-training extended her scythe and rushed into the empty sunny azure above with her friend, who also placed his arm onto the crimson polearm. Minato threw the gathered Dust at the body of the large bird and proceeded to experience a second of weightlessness in the air.

"Now, I just need you to hold on and focus…." He gingerly whispered, his silver eyes shining a bright blue. A tingling sensation rushed through his soul and coated the crimson red scythe in a dazzling shade of bright cyan.

"Minato…" Ruby mumbled, experiencing a sudden surge of power pass through her spirit, making its way to the barrel of her rifle. She could feel the sheer might of the energy flowing past her, making her heart tense.

"FIRE!" Without any more delay, the light that had gathered around the nozzle burst into a hot ray of light that shot and ignited the dormant Dust rounds on the Nevermore, setting its body ablaze and forcing it to plummet from the skies. It transformed into an energy-coated projectile that crashed into the plate of ice and detonated into a violent mushroom cloud of heat and light. The force rattled the entire earth below, shattering the ancient ruins in the process. Rocks flew and showered every corner of the area and the flames from the collision spread far and wide to scorch the very cliff face and rocks around it.

* * *

"Hey, watch my skirt, you dimwit!" Weiss fisted the empty air as a gray-haired male carried her to the other side of the cliffs. Yet, instead of getting an annoyed response, she was then dropped to the floor. "Hey!" She called for the idiot's attention, finding him ignoring her once again. She even went as far as punching him in the chest, to no result. "Is your Aura invincible or something—?" At that moment, she noticed something odd. No matter how hard she punched, no Aura formed around the boy.

Yu, along with his Faunus counterpart, froze from the chaotic blast upon reaching the forest grounds. The white from the explosion blinded the two, but they never looked away, as it sent a chill down their bodies. The white light wasn't part of the Dust; it felt far too familiar.

* * *

"Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long." The four girls stood among a grand hall of first years, up on a pristine white stage, smiling in eager anticipation. "The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as… Team RWBY." The headmaster spoke, feeling the eyes of each girl as he decided on their leader, "Lead by…"

Weiss tensed.

Ruby bounded up and down.

Yang smirked.

Blake stood abnormally still.

"Ruby Rose." An uproar of claps and cheers spread across the entire room, as the whole class celebrated the birth of yet another new team leader. Ruby felt a warmth rise from her chest and a slight blush appear across her face at the unexpected announcement. She found herself being the star of the room and felt her older sister give a tight squeeze upon hearing the news.

"Ruby! I'm so proud of you!" Yang snuggled against the girl before happily congratulating her on her new accomplishment. Upon receiving such praise, she turned her head around to spot a blue-haired boy giving her a thumbs up and a cheeky smirk from the crowd, which give her more confidence in her new status.

"And lastly," Ozpin began, letting the final batch of students, a group of three boys, step onto the stage, "since we have an uneven number of students enrolled this year, Minato Arisato, Akira Kurusu, and Yu Narukami, you shall form an odd team of three, having retrieved the black knight pieces," he paused for a second, "and from this day forward, you all shall work together and be known as Team MAY. Lead by, Minato Arisato." Another set of cheers erupted from the class, excited young faces lighting up from every possible corner of the room. After the formation of the last team of students, a new wave of energy was birthed from the masses, as this marked their official start at Beacon, a school of everyone's dreams.

"So, how'd you two like our team name?" Minato sat up in bed, his luggage scattered messily on his side of the room. There were two other beds, with one in the middle and the other hugging the opposite wall of the room. The glow of the shattered moon trickled in ever so slightly to the dimly-lit dorm room.

"What about it?" Akira typed on his laptop.

"I think it's fine sounding. Why?" Yu read a book from his scroll, its bright screen lighting up parts of his face in the dark.

"I'm the only one who thinks it's dumb, then?" Minato cocked up an eyebrow, "MAY isn't even a color."

"The name of a month is pretty close, right? It reminds me of the first leaves of spring, so green maybe?" Yu mused outloud to the rest, his eyes on the blank ceiling of the room.

"And what else would you have wanted our name to be? Team YAM?" Akira scoffed.

"You know what? You have a point." Minato chuckled at the thought. "YAM does sound stupid."

"Hey, it doesn't sound that bad." Yu objected, feeling attacked by his team. Did they really hate him that much?

"It's the name of a bootleg potato. It's stupid." Akira jabbed, giving a sadistic smirk.

"Oh yeah? Well, Team AMY sounds even worse. It's a girl's name, and we're an all-boys team!" Yu hopelessly tried to get back at the Faunus boy, but to no avail.

"Oh, I've got it." Minato smacked his fist into his palm in a sudden epiphany, drawing the attention of the other two. "We should make up our own unofficial team name."

"Better than our official one, I suppose." The gray-haired student sighed in utter defeat.

"Team Potato! How about it guys? Cool right?" Minato smiled a mocking smile, watching his team in equal amounts of either astonishment or disbelief. "And I'm serious."

"Fine with me." Akira shut down his laptop.

"W-what? How can any one of you blatantly accept that?" Yu questioned, in shock of how fast he had been overruled once again.

"Because naming ourselves after a vegetable will be hilarious, and when we reach the top of the Beacon rankings, all will associate the word 'potato' with sheer unadulterated fright." Minato said almost too casually.

"You're a horrible leader." Akira said in calm sarcasm.

"And you're a horrible person, threatening people when they offer you a helping hand—"

The bluettene could feel cold dagger-like pupils dig into his skin, and he returned an equally deathly look. It was chilling, if not more threatening than the other.

"Guys, guys, calm down. " The tense atmosphere felt almost palpable to the touch as Yu tried to mediate the situation. "I'm already over that…."

"Over that? I threatened your life and you're already fine with it? You're a bigger coward than I thought—!" Akira jerked to the side. A small blade sped through the air and dug into the part of the wall were he was resting his body just a few seconds ago.

"Talk like that again and I will rip your head clean off." Minato narrowed his eyes, channeling a familiar Ice Empress from his past, "I am your leader now and I demand mutual respect, got it?" His tone was harsh and devoid of any of his personality from before, like he was a soulless shell. The darkness surrounding him seemed to twist and warp ever so slightly, contrasting his tired silver eyes.

"Tch, have it your way then." Akira grabbed a bag and slammed the door to the dorm, leaving the other two alone in the room.

"Thanks for that… but it really wasn't necessary…." Yu spoke softly, sounding as if he were the one causing trouble.

"And what's up with you? Shouldn't you be defending yourself?" Minato chided, "You're a pain in the ass."

"I…" Yu turned away.

"Well? Don't tell me you're a pushover like that guy said." The bluenette glared, anger surging from his heart. These two idiots were partly the reason why he and his friends had such a sour day during their arrival to the school. "You should have smacked him square in the face."

"I… didn't want a confrontation for something so minor…." Yu stumbled in his words, afraid to face his leader.

"Minor? My sister nearly got hurt trying to help you!" Minato thought back to the Grimm fights earlier that day. The amount of skill shown by Akira would have easily outclassed Yang's. If the golden blonde had blazed forward to hit the Faunus boy, then it would have surely ended in a one sided brawl, and not in her favor. "So our help was a minor thing too, huh?"

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry if you think that way." The boy started to shake, "I didn't mean it like that, it's just that..."

"Just what? Spit it out, coward!"

"I… I don't deserve your kindness." Yu felt his own hands tremble, terror and anxiety rising from the back of his mind.

"What?"

"Hey, Minato.…" The gray-haired boy reached for his blade. "Do you… believe in other worlds?" He murmured, holding in his imploding despair, a single tear rolling down his eye.

The bluenette softened at the question, "Why are you changing the topic?"

"Because I know you come from the same place as me…." Yu showed the Japanese text carved into the steel of his blade, reading 'Izanagi.' "There are no myths or legends of this kami in Remnant. Same for the name of your sword."

"That is true." The bluenette lost all will to egg the other on, a familiar pain beginning to sear into his heart. "A country named Japan, right? A land surrounded by the sea."

"Yeah.…"

"Where there lies a mega-city called Tokyo, hundreds of times larger than Vale, with a population to match…." the mellow bluenette recalled, soothing the fears of the other.

"Don't about the peaceful countryside, beautiful and untainted by the Grimm." Yu pictured brown rice patties and villages lined with ancient wooden houses, images of Inaba resurfacing with a lifetime of nostalgic memories.

"Did something happen back then?" Minato found it harder and harder to voice words from his throat, his eyes drooping.

Yu nodded, stretching out a hand and forming a clear blue card in his hands that glowed a soft blue light. "I saw you use a Megido to destroy that horde of Nevermores today… you hid it well in that load of Dust. Was the Dust explosion from before you, too?"

Minato floated a similar card in his palm, "Yep. It's the reason Ruby got dragged into this whole mess, too. Ozpin knows as well."

"It's funny…." The gray-haired boy gave a bitter chuckle, "I originally transferred in hopes of finding someone I knew due to that explosion… a friend perhaps, but…" Yu stared blankly at the ground.

"Same luck on that here," Minato's heart ached at the thought of seeing someone from his past, "But I realized that was impossible a long time ago." He felt himself start to shake, overwhelmed by a wave of despair.

"I just wish I could see them again. I just wish I could visit home again." He missed the carefree days of his life. His hands balled into fists. The once strong huntsman-in-training was gone, replaced by a crumbling heap of a human.

"It's alright…." Minato placed a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder. "Me too…" His face darkened, eyes covered by his long blue bangs.

"..."

"I… want to go back too."

* * *

Little did the two know, as they traded their pleas, a third party was listening from behind the door.


	4. The Fool Reversed

Warm, serene light subtly eased its way into the shadowy corners of a quiet room, signaling the breaking of a new dawn as the orange sun gently climbed its way into a radiant, purple sky. In the early hours of morning, uninhabited by a single waking soul, a light sizzling of small cracks and pops could be heard, along with a vision of wispy smoke streaming into the air.

A low voice humming a familiar tone stood alone, sprinkling a pinch of light seasoning onto otherwise well-done steaks, carefully making sure each were properly prepared.

Yu tossed around in his bed before tiredly opening up his eyes, smelling a sweet aroma in the air, of cooked food and fire. As his vision steadily adjusted to his new surroundings, he saw what had caused his him to wake. Before him stood none other than his blue-haired friend, decked out in a lazily-crafted chef's hat and one hand flipping a pile of juicy steaks on a small red grill.

"Awake already?" Minato said, his eyes still focused on the heated grill. He looked as if he was in a world of his own.

"Yeah…" The gray-haired student scratched his head in puzzlement, "Aren't grills prohibited in the dorms?"

"They are." The rule-breaking chef continued his work, seemingly unphased by the question.

"Safety hazard." Akira was next to wake, rubbing his eyes and refusing to get out of bed.

"Don't worry about it. I had a little chat with Ozpin. I'm free to do as I please." Minato gave a cheeky grin. "But it'll be another story if I let anyone else touch this grill," he explained, shrugging at what might happen to anyone that wasn't him.

"Those are some special privileges. You think you can get me those too?" At first Yu had mused what his friend had done to gain such special treatment, and then he chuckled in realization.

"Depends. Ozpin drives a hard bargain. Glynda already looked like she wanted to slit my throat when I proposed the deal." Minato divided the large cuts of meat into smaller, more manageable pieces. He found himself being given a strange look by a certain dark-haired Faunus in the corner. Then came a small knock by the door.

"Minato? Minato, are you awake?" A small girl could be heard in the halls.

"Yo! Ruby told us you'd be hosting a barbecue party today!" Another, more outgoing voice shouted from the other side.

"Ugh…. Can we just get this over with?" Yu unlocked and gently swung open the door, hearing a bratty Weiss complain about being woken up so early in the morning. However, something felt different about her.

"May we come in?" Blake gave a gentle smile, eyeing the room's inhabitants.

"Ren! Ren! I smell barbecue!" Soon, the scent of the food had attracted another pair of students, as Nora roughly slammed open the door to her dorm, dragging her groggy teammate with her into the halls.

"Nora—" It was too late, as the excited ginger had already forced the poor boy out of the dorm, in his underwear.

"Whoa there Ren, I didn't know you were into that." Yang teased, already having the pink-eyed boy blushing and denying her comments in subtle panic.

"Alright, get inside everyone. We don't want the school staff knowing." Minato waved a hand, gesturing for the party of students to take seats in the three-person dorm. Team RWBY quietly adjusted themselves, followed by the first and second halves of team JNPR, all seated on either beds or extra chairs in the room.

"So Minato, what's this party for? Are we celebrating something?" Jaune asked, munching a recently done rib, seemingly clueless.

"I believe it's to congratulate us on finishing our entrance exam, yes?" Pyrrha mused out, "Everyone gathered here did work hard together to fend off that huge flock of Nevermore."

"What about starting our first day at Beacon?" Blake added, seeing the faces of everyone light up at finally being able to attend the school of their dreams. A school that only accepted the best.

"Precisely!" The bluenette clapped, "You're both correct. I'd say we're a pretty tight knit group of people after that experience. Surviving a Grimm horde that'd be hard even for professionals to take down is a great accomplishment in my book."

"That reminds me, Minato. How _did_ you guys run into that many Nevermore?" Ruby raised her hand, looking from the confused face of Yu to the blank expression that was Akira's. The entire room suddenly focused on the three boys.

"Yeah… about that," Minato pretended to have a hard time remembering. "See, when they launched me, I ended up in a certain mountain-like area of the exam."

"Oh! I know what happens next! You tripped and fell and landed on a Nevermore nest!" Nora beamed, chewing through her third pair of roasted ribs.

"How'd you know?"

"What? Come on, Minato, there's no way that was what happened." Yang scoffed at the idea. It simply seemed too comical, even with the strange antics of the bluenette. Then again, she wasn't so sure of herself being stuck with him for so long.

"Nope. I'm not kidding, and then they chased me around, leading me to you guys."

"Then… what about them?" Weiss asked awkwardly, gesturing to both Yu and Akira, an uncomfortable expression on her face.

"We were fighting our own battles when our leader crash landed with a dead Nevermore." Yu recalled, feeling a watchful eye from the heiress.

"Same story with me." Akira spoke, following the story of Yu.

"You don't talk much, do you?" Yang glared at the Faunus, clearly sending a silent declaration of war between the two, fire in her lilac eyes.

"Yang, no…" Then she felt her younger sister tug at her shirt, and several pairs of eyes shot back and forth between the tall blonde and the raven-haired boy, accompanied by the silent whispers of Jaune and Pyrrha.

"How we about we move onto another topic…." Yu suggested, sweating that the party had barely escaped evolving into an all-out brawl between two of their grumpiest members in the room.

"Y-yeah! Like classes!" Jaune blurted out nervously. He could practically sense the thick tension in the air.

"M-me too! We should all trade schedules to see who we'll be with!" Ruby forced a smile, secretly thanking the blond boy for his extremely quick thinking.

"Nora and I will be attending Professor Port's lecture this morning." Ren opened his scroll to a picture of a detailed class list.

"My team has a similar shedule for the most part." Minato compared the details to his own and so did everyone else. Excited chatter and plans of future seating arrangements were already starting to be formed as the students discussed their future plans at Beacon.

"It seems like we all have very closely aligned schedules," Pyrrah observed, "I'm surprised we all have so much in common despite the number of the underclassmen this year."

"Since we pretty much have almost all of our classes together, how about we all form one big study group?" Minato suggested, "That way, we can always have someone we know to help each other."

"You mean for any subject, right? I'm sure we can all use some help on preparing for midterms." Jaune was the first to be on board.

"That sounds like a good idea, Minato. Like Jaune said, it would better if we can have a variety of people aiding each other in the upcoming months. It will do well to cover each other's weaknesses." The Mistralian champion formulated a strategy to tackle the year ahead in her mind.

"Oh, I get it! It'll be just like how we made it through our first exam!" Ruby's eyes lit up, "I didn't know you could form battle plans for classes too." The new plan reminded her of how everyone made sure to have each other's backs during their fights, with the odd coincidence that most of them would once again be united under one classroom. It made the group of students seem extremely tightly knit.

"Looks like this will be a fun year." Yu smiled to himself, watching the others chat on about random subjects and exchange personal stories before their arrival at Beacon. It had been a long time since he had felt so relaxed around a group of people. It felt nostalgic, even.

* * *

A dark hook sprung out from the fog, biting, sinking, and gnawing into its target's Aura like a hunter latching onto its prey, before a sharp jolt of yellow sparked and spread through his form, shocking the surprised body as it was then forcefully tossed into the vulnerable air.

Cardin Winchester winced at being forced to his limit, fear in his eyes and sweat down his back as he saw something suddenly materialize below him. Its face was so demonic that the boy tightly shut his eyes in terror. He felt a sharp dagger aggressively rip and tear through the last remaining bits of his useable Aura.

"Gah!" The poor brunette slammed into the floor back-first, panic still lacing his eyes as several bright lights quickly ate away the horrific darkness around him.

"You can both stop now, Mr. Winchester, Mr. Kurusu." Glynda said with approval, a scroll in her hands showing Cardin's gauge being in the low red, close to zero percent. Meanwhile, the raven-haired Faunus had not been touched even once in his battle. "Students, as you can see, it is vital that you all pay close attention to your Aura gauges when you are in the real world. If you ever find yourselves or any of your teammates in the red, it is best to have someone else take over to avoid any unnecessary casualties." Her words came off sternly and without any sugar-coating to hide the youths from the harsh reality that was being a huntsman or huntress.

"Tch!" Cardin glared daggers at his opponent, mumbling several inaudible curses and plenty of racist remarks under his breath before walking back to the bleachers, leaving the twitching ears and annoyed frown of Akira.

"Now, since today is the first day of class, we still have a little extra time left before your cafeteria break." The blonde instructor turned to the Faunus boy, "Do you wish to stay for another round, Mr. Kurusu?"

"Yeah. But can I pick who this time?" Akira replied in a polite manner, surveying the crowd. Restless conversation and plenty of bets were made and passed around the class on who it was that the student wanted to personally challenge. The most popular theories ranged from the four-time Mistralian champion to the heiress of the Schnee Dust company and finally, the recent regional champion of Altas.

"And who may that be?" Glynda couldn't help but ask. The dark-haired boy had been on a clean and undefeated win streak ever since he took over the stage.

Akira silently raised a hand and pointed at the crowd, his borrows furrowing. "Him."

"Why you—"

"Sure. I wouldn't mind a fight." Yu stood up from his seat, putting a shoulder on Yang, who looked like she was going to challenge the Faunus as well.

"Very well, Mr. Narukami. Please prepare yourself." Yu grabbed his blade and strolled onto the stage, feeling the searing gaze of his opponent burn right into him as Glynda once again dimmed the arena. And as the lights slowly faded, so did the reserved nature of the audience, as many started to cheer for either side. Students of Faunus heritage were more keen to take the dark-haired boy's side, while the humans in the crowd never stopped supporting their own.

"You better win this, Yu!" Yang found herself being the first to ignite the excitement of the class, while many other followed suite with their own versions of encouragement.

"Go, Akira!" A pair of Faunus girls shouted, typing his name on their scrolls and waving them in the air.

"Altas Champion for the win!" Another called out, while a separate horde of people yelled out similar comments.

"So you really are the champion from that place." Akira reloaded his gun.

"I was dragged into it," Yu sighed, "I'm not one for showing off." He unsheathed his katana

"Have some pride for once…." With that, the Faunus's figure faded into the blackness, his presence now unknown to anyone in the room but himself.

Yu closed his eyes, feeling a tranquil peace wash over him as he inhaled a deep breath, calming himself and blocking out all outside noise and distractions. Soon, the constant cheers and chatter of the crowd faded from his mind along with the barren arena before him, leaving him in an endless dark void. Then, it happened.

Without hesitation, he twisted around and swung his blade into the empty air, feeling it harshly collide and scrape against something equally metallic and cold. The boy opened his eyes, only to be met with another pair of astonished silver orbs as their owner forcefully clashed blades with the other. Yu reacted as quickly as could when he heard a clicking sound from his enemy. He flared up his Semblance, allowing a large wave of electricity to hit Akira head on while the Faunus pulled out a pistol and fired at him at point blank range, causing both to be forced back by the damage of each other's attacks.

Akira rapidly fired his pistol at inhuman speeds, sending a horizontal rain of bullets at Yu, who swiftly reacted by blocking each wave of deadly fire with his blade, moving it left, right, center, up, down, and so on. He felt a sick pop come from one of the individuals rounds that exploded, sending a wave of chilly mist rushing into his face as a large pile of icicles threatened to pierce through his body, coming at him at blinding speeds. Instead of being phased like most probably would, he plunged head-on into the wall of ice, turning into a bright bolt of thunder that shot through the crystals and charged straight into a prepared Akira, who blocked a wide downward slash from the other, which sent a sizeable wave of energy across the room.

"Not bad…." The Faunus mumbled, a smirk on his face.

"Oh, I'm just warming up…." Yu charged his blade with his Semblance as well as a stream of red hot Fire Dust, "I noticed my electricity wasn't as effective this time, so I think I might spice things up a little." With that said, his blade started to burn so powerfully bright that it started to obscure his opponent's vision, causing the Faunus boy to smile even more. Akira felt his Aura depleting with each consecutive blow, while Yu got faster and faster with his lightning-quick reflexes. A blocked downward slash here, a dagger to the boy's cheek there. Akira himself had earned a knee to the gut with his enemy's supernatural speed, sending him crashing into the other side of the arena. Yu sped after his flying body, causing the trickster to grab his gun and shoot out a hook that wrapped around the other's form. It was followed by a backflip in the air that reversed the momentum onto his opponent, sending the gray-haired man slamming into a pillar and shattering part of its concrete construction.

Yu jolted up, slashing away at any strings before finding himself alone on the floor again. However, the peace of the battlefield was interrupted by a bright flash in front of his eyes, turning his entire field of vision into a burning white and drowning out his hearing as he felt several presences radiate from his surroundings. Blinded and with no other choice, he began to quickly dispatch anything he suspected of being his opponent to no avail as chips of cool ice and brittle earth flew from his golden blade. His movements became more chaotic as he moved at insane speeds to avoid any oncoming projectiles, but felt something odd about the floor, as well as a general drop in the temperature of the air as he blocked another hail of bullets and elemental attacks headed his way. It was only when he made a misstep in his desperate attempts to regain the upper hand did he realize his mistake. His foot slipped on the textureless floor, causing him to plummet to the ground while he finally got back most of his sight.

"Shit…" That was when he truly realized. He saw Akira standing up above on one of the ceiling fixtures, a mammoth-sized chunk of ice next to him. Yu scrambled to activate his Semblance and block, but it was too late. The dark-haired Faunus cut the strings, allowing the giant iceberg to descend and brutally smash into the desperate body on the floor, sending a deafening thud and miniature quake ripple to throughout the classroom.

A moment passed. There was no movement under the ice.

Another moment passed. Akira frowned.

Everyone watched Yu's Aura gauge drop to the red, continuing to deplete itself each minute as they waited. Glynda opened her mouth to call the match but stopped, astonished by her own eyes.

Little by little, a small crack started to form in the ice, until it eventually became a large blue fissure that reached the edges of the titanic-sized prison, forcing it to crumble and fall. An ear-splitting boom was followed by a great eruption of shattered ice that blew toward the audience, sending countless chunks flying into multiple different directions until the cold icy prison was no more.

Yu Narukami stood in the center of the mess, his eyes burning with an immeasurable amount of rage while his body was surrounded by a glowing yellow aura that radiated outward in flashes of white electricity. His once red aura gauge started to rapidly ascend from a cheery crimson to a brilliant orange, and finally, a fully healthy leafy green. It gave the teen enough energy to spring forward at an impossible speed as he almost teleported in front of Akira's face and forcefully yanked him by the hair, delivering a series of wild slashes that crippled the boy's movements. Four on the arms, twenty to the chest, and thirty on the legs before smacking him square in the face, sending him roughly crashing into the icy floor like a speeding comet, creating a sizeable crater. Yu placed both of his feet on the ceiling, stretching out his sword with electricity coursing through his body, launching himself like a rocket with his blade as the nose, cutting through the air, and stabbing into the Aura shield of his target from above, finally taking the Faunus's Aura into the red.

"Didn't see that one coming, huh?" Yu glared at his downed opponent. There was a minute between the two before the other chuckled.

"Haha… you cheating bastard."

"And what if I did?"

"Then I can do it too, you idiot" Suddenly, and almost without warning, Akira sprung up and fisted the gray-haired student in the face while his gauge miraculously recovered from a drop of red to a fully-colored green. Yu's immediately dropped to half of what it used to be from just a single punch, shocking the entire audience. Meanwhile, Yu returned an equally, if not more powerful, blow in retaliation that sent the Faunus a few feet back, bringing his Aura bar even lower than the Altas heir's. However, their Auras would immediately heal as if by magic, devolving the two's match into an uncoordinated, ugly fist fight that had Akira again going for Yu's face while the taller blocked his fist with one hand and repeated a similar process for the other. They locked both knees, hands, and feet, leaving the two at a complete stand still, each glaring into the other with stubborn rage.

"Give up!" Akira shouted, his eye twitching.

"You give up." Yu softly whispered, refusing to move.

It was then, with no other options left, did the two realize what they had to do. Silently they watched each other, until both raised their heads and rammed into each other in a deadly headbutt that forced and blew the two apart in opposite directions, shattering both of their Auras in the process.

"That's enough, the both of you!" Glynda stepped between the two, waving her wands in the air, which switched on the lights and fixed any damage done to the area.

"I'm sorry I went a little overboard Professor—"

"Students, due to certain malfunctions of the Aura gauge program, I'm afraid further class matchups will be cancelled for today." The blonde ignored the boy, turning to address the astonished crowd, and earned herself a few loud groans and complaints at the sudden news.

"Was there really something up with the program?" Whispers and rumors started to surface from the audience, many unsure of what they had just witnessed, while others tried to come to their own conclusions.

"Dunno man, worked fine for me." Another student shrugged.

"Maybe it really is some kind of bug. There's no way a person's Aura can go up like that." A group of boys sitting at the very corner of the room discussed.

"With that said, the school will work diligently to resolve the issue. For now, you are all to have an early dissmal. Please refrain from making trouble for any other classes in session as you make your way out." Glynda said almost robotically, watching to make sure everyone had exited the room before turning to the two she instructed to stay.

"May I join the after-party too, Professor?" Minato appeared from out of nowhere, walking onto the stage and shocking the instructor.

"Mr. Arisato, how did you—?" She then sighed, feeling a small migraine. "Very well, they are both a part of your team."

"We have to explain our strange Aura recovery right?" Yu asked, knowing Ozpin likely already knew about Minato.

"You all will come with me to the Headmaster's office immediately."

* * *

"It's nice to see you are doing well, Mr. Arisato. How's Ms. Rose?" Ozpin sipped from his mug, seated comfortably in a large office chair, while Glynda stood beside him as his assistant, a notebook and pen in her hands.

"Same to you, Professor. It's been a while. She's still adjusting to the school, but she's making friends. I know we're not here to talk about that, though," Minato conversed, seeming as casual as ever.

"Indeed, as much as I would like to go through with the formalities, I'm afraid I might need to cut straight to the point with this unexpected meeting." Ozpin narrowed his eyes, his tone growing more stern upon addressing the group again, "Now, Mr. Aritsao, could you kindly explain the abnormalities of your teammates? In all my years as the headmaster of this school, I have never heard of such… malfunctions in our systems."

"Quite easily, sir," Minato stepped forward, feeling the searing glare from both Akira and Yu. "They're both magic users, just like me." In that moment, his raven-haired teammate looked like he wanted to slit his throat right then and there.

"Mr. Arisato… is this true?" Glynda tried processing this new information in head. As each minute passed, she felt more and more overwhelmed. Were there more people like them out there? The existence of people powerful enough to counter the current Fall Maiden seemed too good to be true, almost like a blessed dream.

"Yes…." Yu was the first to admit, stretching his hand to a glowing blue card while Minato did the same.

"And what about you, Mr. Kurusu? I don't blame you for being so cautious of your situation." Ozpin subtly pressured the Faunus, already bringing both of his teammates to his side. Truly, there was no escape.

"You're scarier than you look." Akira grumpily held out a similar card to the others.

"Interesting," the older man mused, "Now, can all of you explain how you managed to recover your Aura with these powers?"

Yu smashed his card with a glass-shattering effect, making the two instructors cringe slightly before they both saw a tiny winged creature materialize before their eyes. "This little lady here is Pixie. She has a healing power called Dia that can help someone recover from their injuries."

"They probably channeled her powers without summoning her entirely and used that to boost their Auras." Minato explained, amused at the shocked faces of the two adults.

"So this power can both help a person recover and heal their auras?" Glynda felt her heart tighten. Just how much were these students— no, _forgien magic users_ capable of? She thought back to the numerous life-threatening injuries many of her students in the past had received from being out on missions and risking their lives to hunt down the Grimm. Could some of them have graduated if magic like this was around? Her hands trembled at the possibility. Even the school hospital was filled with countless unconscious teens that didn't deserve such ruthless treatment from the real world.

"If I'm correct, aside from unfathomable powers of destruction, you all are also capable of healing as well? Are there any other fantastical abilities I should be informed of, Team MAY? Any that can produce substances out of thin air, or time-altering spells?" Ozpin raised an eyebrow, speaking half-jokingly, but half-suspecting the three to produce a plate of pasta from nothingness, or reverse the stream of time out of pure boredom just to mess with him.

"Sorry, no such thing Professor. As much as I'd like to find a solution to world hunger and finishing my essays on time, neither can happen with the help of magic, especially the latter." Minato joked back, earning an amused smile from Ozpin and a frown from Glynda.

"Do try to stay on top of your classes, Mr. Arisato. I may not have a job in the end if my students start failing in their first year at Beacon." The headmaster gave a humorous chuckle. "Thank you for your time, boys, you can all return to campus."

With a flick of a hand, all previous hints of magic and tension were erased from the room, leaving what resembled a meeting between three normal students and two instructors. However, just when the three were about to leave, they heard someone speak.

"W-wait!" The boys turned to face a concerned-looking Glynda. Her voice lacked her usual formality and her posture was sloppier than usual.

"Is there a problem, Glynda?" Ozpin said surprised, noticing the woman's odd behaviour.

"No sir… it's just… may I ask them a favor?" The once stern instructor choked on her words, unsure of how to express her ideas in concrete words.

"What kind?" Akira crossed his arms in a frank response.

"It… has to do with the school's injured students" Glynda admitted, a pinch of guilt clinging to her heart, "Can you help them?"

Ozpin stayed silent.

"Sure, is there anything—" Yu was cut off by Akira.

"How? What can we get out of it?" The dark-haired boy seemed unmoved, putting on a blank mask.

"There's also the problem of their miraculous recoveries. A person can't just heal from an Ursa attack overnight. What I think my teammate is trying to say is that we're putting ourselves at risk by helping you." Minato stepped between the two males, seeing the death glares from Yu and the cold indifference from Akira.

"Would it help if we offered a reward in exchange?" Ozpin became just as calculating, his manner of speech shifting from one of a respected headmaster to that a shrewd man. This benefited him in the long run, after all.

"A favor for a favor doesn't sound bad, does it?" Akira wasn't letting the older man take the upper hand. "Using magic to help a whole hospital of people will likely drain us to exhaustion."

"And what kind of favor would you propose, Mr. Kurusu? I assume it has to be worth the risk and work you all have to put in for the task?" The headmaster concluded. Not even the Vale council was this pressuring to deal with. It made him wish he had more kids like Ruby around.

"That, I have to discuss with my team in private. It'd be unfair for me alone to ask for something for myself."

"Agreed," Minato patted both Akira and Yu on the back, "As the leader of Team MAY, I accept this proposal."

"Very well then. It seems we have come to a deal, Team MAY."

* * *

"Did you really have to ask them for that?" Yu slammed the door to their dorm shut.

"They were asking to abuse our Personas. What were you going to do? Cave in to their demands?" Akira shot back, then felt a tug on his collar.

"What's wrong with you? Do you think you're better than everyone else? Those kids stuck in that hospital helped save hundreds of people just by being out there and putting their lives on the line and you can't even be bothered to help them a little?" Anger boiled inside of Yu's stomach. His teeth clenched and his fists were inches away from punching the bastards in front of him.

"If you think that favor was an easy deal, then you're a moron! Were you even listening in the office?! We're putting our own asses on the line in both risking introducing the entirety of Remnant to magic that could cause wars and draining ourselves dry of our powers if we go through with your idiotic plans!"

"That still doesn't change the fact that you turned a simple favor into some kind of leverage for yourself! We all could have accepted that reward like the Professor offered and not risk so many people's lives for your petty power trip!" What infuriated Yu was not how Akira rejected the favor at first, but what he did with it afterward.

"I want to help those people as much as you! But didn't you see how Ozpin was so willing to deal with us? What about the way he interrogated us for what else we could do?! He's using us as much as we're using him and I'm not letting him take advantage of us!" Akira finally snapped, his eyes wide and hands shaking.

"Guys, guys, calm down." Minato put a hand on each male's shoulder, adding crushing amounts of pressure that caused them both to experience mild pain. "If we keep this up, the entire school will hear us." The bluentte's voice was polite, but he radiated a black aura of death.

"You…? Help people? Some Wild Card you are. I'm sure Igor made a mistake in choosing you. It's the reason you're here right?" Despite the warning from his leader, Yu never stopped. He burned his eyes into the pathetic existence that was the jackass in front of him.

"Igor? Igor?! You mean that long nosed THING that made me suffer for a stupid bet he made with some fuckwit of a god? Why am I here? Speak for yourself, you failure!" Akira yelled back, old emotions and sealed wound beginning to pour into the open.

"What the hell are you even talking about? I risked my life to defend my town and my loved ones!" The gray-haired Wild Card started to tear up, his words becoming more and more jumbled, "I'm no failure! You probably ditched all your friends and never looked back!"

It was Akira's turn to snap, "I went through _hell_ to help my friends! Don't you dare—!"

"And I ended the fucking world because I was a weak ass piece of shit that couldn't save anyone if I tried!" A third voice broke into a screaming match, piercing through the heavy atmosphere of the room.

Minato looked up, his face sunken with grief and his eyes darker than anything the two had ever seen. They were the eyes of someone who had witnessed something even more horrifying than death itself. He gazed up at the other two, with his expression being completely withered and beaten with pure shellshock.

"But I thought Izanami…" Yu murmured to himself, putting a hand to his mouth at the absolutely crippled state of his friend, for he resembled more of an ancient dying man than a young teenager.

"Yaldabaoth…" He could hear the other whisper with an equal amount of horror. Something felt terribly wrong.

"How can you say that…?" Minato stared into space like he was off in his own world, whatever he was seeing in his mind's eye had paled and petrified the boy. "The world ended with Nyx, back in 2009..." His voice was cold and robotic, it was as if he was just a human shell without a soul.

"2016 for me." Akira softened. Even saying the year out loud felt bitter.

"2011…" Yu was next, but how could that be? How could everyone have different dates for when the world ended? And each time by a different god.

All three sat down on the side of a bed.

"Here," Akira placed a blanket on Minato, who looked like he was shivering from an unseen force in the room, "take a deep breath and relax." Despite starting out with a cold and unapproachable attitude, this Akira was softy patting the back of his friend with worried eyes, signaling a drastic shift in his behaviour.

"Have some water." Yu grabbed a bottle but was unsuccessful in getting the attention of the shocked bluenette, "Minato? Minato?" The boy gingerly nudged his friend, only for his body to jump at the sudden contact, and the other watching him like a scared animal.

"S-sorry…" Minato said in a whisper, different from his usual,extroverted tone.

"Are you doing alright?" Akira asked.

"I'm fine…."

"You sure?" Yu felt the boy's words were as inaudible as the squeaks of a mouse.

Minato nodded, "Just tired is all."

"Want to lay down for a bit?" Akira suggested, although the entire trio didn't really seem well.

"No, I'm ok for now. I want to get to the bottom of what's going on…." Every word the bluenette put out felt like a struggle, but he tried to keep himself strong. He had finally found others like him, others that shared his pain.

"What got us in the first place, right? The inconsistencies too." Yu summarized the problem, a problem that lacked answers.

"Assuming all of our stories are true, the world also ended in different points in time…" Akira tried to find a solution to the problem.

"If it ended with me, then you guys shouldn't even be here." Minato said with melancholy.

"What if the world restarted after each time it ended? " Yu suggested. Izanami might have ended humanity but that still doesn't mean she could escape the eventual heat death of the universe.

"Unlikely, humanity only existed due to Nyx's interference with the earth. There's no way that would happen a second time and so on." The bluenette of the group explained, although it only managed to confuse his peers more.

"Nyx? Was that the being you were fighting against? Don't tell me it's basically the two brother gods of our world." A certain sense of dread began to permeate the air, as the being known as Nyx made both the intentions Yaldabaoth and Izanami sound rather mild in comparison.

"Nyx was the origin of all shadows and complex life on our planet," Minato paused feeling cold at even mentioning the star-eater, "You guys mentioned dealing with your own gods right? What were they trying to achieve?"

"The complete enslavement of humanity, because humanity itself prayed to be controlled." Akira narrowed his eyes, "Humans as a whole gave birth to it, too." His last words sounded bitter.

"Izanami wanted to shroud the world in fog because she feared humans would always run from the truth. Her conception was a similar story. A giant shadow born of the collective unconscious." Yu felt the wells of his stomach tighten at merely mentioning the monster that disguised herself as a goddess.

"Nyx was called to the world because humans wished for death…."

"And she gave birth to humanity." It was then that they all realized their futile struggles, and maybe even felt a pinch of guilt. Yaldabaoth and Izanami were at least flawed and defeatable, but to go up against the literal thing that conceived all life on earth was an entirely different story. The two shadow deities paled in comparison to the might that was the death goddess.

"See why I said that idea wouldn't work?"

The three mauled over the problem, coming up with different theories on how their individual timelines could have happened . Time passed, turning the bright blue of the sunny sky to a deep, dark purple littered with hundreds of individual stars. And yet, despite all their efforts, it came up empty and futile.

* * *

"Hey, thanks for coming out with me like this." Yu swung open a door to the rooftop, walking into a sea of glowing lights that illuminated the entire campus, from the twinkling yellow embers that dotted the tranquil night to the mysterious emerald orbs that hung silently amidst a tall majestic tower. The boy stepped onto the smooth blacktop, watching the starry sky and the empty area below.

"Yeah..." Akira followed closely behind, his ears twitching and listening in to make sure no one else but the two were around, "It's less cramped."

"So, any ideas yet? I've still got nothing." Yu tried to find words, any words that would make this meeting feel less awkward. It felt like a dark cloud constantly hung around the Faunus that made it impossible to converse with him normally.

Akira shook his head.

"What about where you're from?" He tried again.

"The slums of Mantle."

"No… no, I meant…" he felt his hand shake at the reply.

"Earth?" Akira answered, leaning against a wall.

"Yeah, our world. I was mostly a city kid all my life." Yu gave a nervous chuckle. Although, it was only when he moved to the country did he finally start to live again.

"Tokyo."

"Well… least we have something in common." The gray-haired boy sighed.

"Why don't we skip right to the point," Akira said softly, having finally had enough of the uncomfortable exchange. He lacked his usual indifference.

"Yeah, good idea." Yu took a deep breath, "Look… I'm sorry for going overboard back there. I should have considered the consequences and—"

"Why are you apologizing?" The reply had taken the gray-haired Persona-user by surprise. "You weren't wrong. I was being selfish."

Yu stood still, fumbling words in his mind, trying to process the sudden admission of guilt. "What?"

"Didn't you hear? I was being an asshole." The dark-haired Faunus shook his head with a bitter smile, "I haven't been called out like this for a while."

"Then, what was your life like back then? Did you have to do this a lot?" Curiosity urged him to ask the question that had plagued his mind ever since the other had mentioned his origin on Remnant.

"Remember what that Weiss girl said at the beginning, when we first met? Lying, cheating, and stealing. They truly were the only way to get by." He then pointed to his feline ears, "See these? They made things even worse in that blasted country." Twitching and bobbing up and down, the traits of a feral animal. The symbol of a Faunus. The symbol of being an inhuman creature. Akira yanked at his ears, an annoyed scowl plastered across his face.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that." Yu's eyes drooped. Compared to the dark-haired boy, he had been born in a place of unimaginable wealth. Him and many of his peers had to do barely anything to get what they wanted, which only fueled his guilt. "Back then, when I said I wanted equal rights for both humans and Faunus? I really meant it."

"Even if that happened, there would still be massive economic divides between the two. Hey, um… listen," Akira felt a lump in his throat, feeling the gaze at the other, "I'm.. .I'm sorry for calling you a coward." He mustered all the willpower he could to not to look away.

"It's alright."

"And for threatening you with a dagger…"

"I understand." Yu felt a hard fist impact his shoulder. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Stop being a pushover. One day, those wolves in Altas will bleed you dry if you keep this up." Akira furrowed his brows, hand raised as if to deliver another blow if necessary.

"No, I'd rather not take that wealth. Other people need it more. I dunno what I would do with that much money anyways." He stopped after he felt the searing glare from the Faunus. Mixed emotions of confusion, anger, and bewilderment all flashed in his eyes.

"You do realize you're the heir, right?" Akira's fist shook.

"Yeah." The gray haired heir replied blankly.

"At best they're going to make you a puppet and at worst they're going to find a way to make you a martyr and point fingers at the Faunus to further their own agendas." Akira waited for a reply, anything that would indicate a hint of sanity or self-preservation in the other's words. Then he saw his face darken.

"Yeah. I've known that for a while. I'm just waiting for that to happen…." Yu paled, his face drained of all color and spirit, leaving a sad, empty husk. His reply was soft and broken. It was the reply of someone who had already admitted defeat long ago.

"You're… insane." Akira took a step back, horrified.

"No," Yu said bitter, looking away "In a way, I see it as a fair punishment."

"Punishment?" The Faunus seemed to calm at the word.

"Despite the failure I was, I was rewarded with a life of complete luxury," Yu felt his eyes start to swell up, " I got everything and anything that I wanted living in that mansion." Hot tears started to stream down his face, "But then I realized how much of a jackass I was when I remembered dooming all my loved ones to that eternal shadow hell. The entire fucking Earth was dead, Akira! I should be in hell burning with the rest of them for what I did!" The heir screamed at the Faunus. "Instead, somehow, for whatever twisted reason, I was reborn into this… world. I know it's coming Akira, and I am waiting for it because there's no other reason I would be here—"

Smack.

Thud.

"Do you think I care?" A yellow flicker and shattering sound was heard as Yu rolled and tumbled to the ground. Shocked eyes witnessed a flash of white from above as the stunned boy rubbed his cheek. A harsh foot stomped on his abdomen, causing him to cringe in pain.

"If you keep spouting that bullshit, then I'll kill you right here, right now!" Akira pressed the tip of his dagger at the other's throat, his face stern. His hand shook.

"Akira, I—!" Before Yu could finish, he saw his assailant toss the dagger into the door, stabbing into its side. Panic started to surface from the Faunus's eyes as he saw someone burst open from the other side of the door.

"What are you doing?!" Pyrrah sped out from the darkness, throwing her metallic gold-and-red lance at Akira, who quickly jumped out of the way, while the girl ran up ramming her shield at full power, forcing the other to block with his bare hands.

"Tch!" Having been pushed to the literal edge of the building, Akira waved his hand in the empty air until it spawned a small azure fire swiftly taking shape into a simple black pistol. Reaching his arm to the side of the shield, he started to fire wild sparks of blazing blue at point blank range at the champion of Mistral, who flinched and retreated a few feet back from the mysterious ammo.

"Pyrrah, stop! It's not what it looks it!" Yu ran in between the too, using his body to block off either side from advancing any further.

"Yu! Can't you see what he was doing?! He was trying to kill you!" The crimson-haired champion pleaded, desperate to prevent a death while her entire body trembled at picturing the aftermath.

Akira clenched his teeth. It hurt badly.

"He was trying to help me!" The heir yelled back, still refusing to move.

"Jaune! What's going on?!" Yang was next to bust open the door, along with a short-haired male wielding a plain sword and shield.

"This is Beacon campus security! Arms up and we won't shoot!" Two fully armed and uniformed man aimed their rifles at the boy.

He felt his heart tighten. It was too familiar.

"Akira, no!" Ruby put her hands to her mouth, horrified, hiding behind Minato and Blake.

"Ugh! I knew he was a criminal!" Weiss pointed her rapier at Akira, "Give it up you, evil Faunus! To think you would actually target a Narukami!"

His heart shattered.

"You know what you dumbfucks?!" He yelled to no one in particular, screaming into the heavens, his arms stretched out wide, his face morphing into a devilish grin, "Maybe I am a fucking criminal! So what if I tried to kill that pathetic piece of shit?! All Altas elites are pigs!"

"N-no we're not! Shut up, shut up, you filthy Faunus!" Wiess stabbed her rapier into the ground, conjuring up a sharp row of jagged ice that shot toward the broken trickster, "Ah!" Suddenly and without warning, the row of ice was blown by an unknown wind as the guilty Faunus swung a hand in the empty air. Chucks of sharp icicles flew at the group and before anyone could do anything else, a blinding flash of white obscured the area, forcing everyone to cover up their eyes while some braced for the ice storm heading their way.

However, nothing happened. There were no panicked screams of being pierced by sharp white crystals, nor any feeling of wind in the air. Not even a subtle breeze as time marched on.

"He's gone!" Weiss stomped into the pavement. Everyone expressed their own versions of terror, anger, or anguish. Their minds were clouded, their spirits broken, and their bodies shaken by the unexpected experience.

And in that moment of anguish and frozen time, no had noticed the pools of warm water or melted ice.


	5. Castle of Lies

A warm cup of coffee settled atop a long transparent desk of metallic gears, its heat slowly dissipating into the still morning air as puffs of steam rose into the upper atmosphere, being greeted by a metallic jungle of ancient clockwork.

A hand picked up the cup and took a small sip of the warm liquid. "So what you are saying, Mr. Narukami, is this all true?" Ozpin gave a skeptical eye, currently scrutinizing the truthfulness of the information and the two students standing before his desk.

"We really weren't in danger, Professor Ozpin." Yu pleaded with the headmaster, his words a jumbled mess. "I… I… it was my words that aggravated Akira into doing what he did." The grey-haired boy felt a rock-like weight press onto his chest and hinder his ability to breathe.

"No, Mr. Narukami… you shouldn't solely blame yourself." Glynda softened, her grip loosening on her clipboard, "As your role models at Beacon, we shouldn't have pressured your team so hastily with such a monumental task." Realizing that the blame was shared by not only Yu, but the two adults in the room as well because of their eagerness to further own agendas, they had inadvertently caused a rift in the team and a needed asset leave the academy. The blonde instructor could clearly recall a choking atmosphere between the group as they last left the room.

"For now, all we can do is search for him." Minato crossed his arms in frustration, a frown creasing his face, "Professor, can you do us a favor?" He silenced the entire room with his voice, briefly causing the others to forget about their problems, his piercing gaze burning into their irises.

"Yes? How can we help?" Ozpin inquired, becoming equally as serious.

"As much as I want to continue this counseling session, we need to clean up our mess before word gets out," the bluenette said through dark eyes and bitterness. The situation already looked bad as it was, but if people were to learn of a Faunus-attempted assassination of an Atlesian heir….

"Agreed, Mr. Arisato. I will cover up the incident as per usual and put all campus security and any other staff members involved under a permanent gag order. All accusations against Mr. Kurusu will be erased from the records." The headmaster of Beacon said without much hesitation, as if he had planned such actions in advance, then his eyes narrowed, "However, I cannot say the same for our student witnesses."

"Yu and I will take care of our guys. I'm sure we can explain what really happened. But can you say on paper that you'll still give Akira a punishment for potential assault? It would be strange to hear that he got off scott free. We don't want anyone knowing about our talks." Minato suggested while him and Ozpin both received subtle yet astonished faces from both Glynda and Yu.

"I might say Mr. Arisato, for a first-year student, that is quite observant of you." Ozpin took another sip of his coffee, watching the bluenette with a glint of suspicion in his ancient eyes.

"I could say the same for you, Professor. Sometimes, you're just not what you seem." A brief silence fell in the room with either side refusing to divulge any more information, followed by a palpable tension in the air.

"Perhaps we should call a truce for now." A faint smile started to spread across the old man's face, a certain sense of amusement rising from his voice.

"True, my team should get going, too. Searching for Akira will probably take a while." Minato patted Yu on the shoulder, signaling for the two to head for the office elevator. With a silent dismissal and faint sound of a small elevator arriving at the top floor, the two left without another word.

"Can we trust him…?" Glynda found herself musing out loud after the surreal exchange. Minato Arisato seemed less and less like the average student the more they interacted. One moment he appeared as a laid back kid, and another had him trading wits with Ozpin, even giving off a similar vibe.

"Mr. Arisato is certainly an interesting individual, but I wouldn't say we _couldn't_, Glynda…." The older man pulled up a file showing a familiar blue haired individual, eyes scanning the pale blue screen for any piece of curious information.

"Sir, this isn't his student file, is it?" Ozpin found his assistant peering over his shoulder to look at the screen. "You ordered a complete background check on Mr. Arisato?" Instead of averting her eyes, Glynda felt herself digging deeper and deeper into her student's history out of sheer curiosity. Scrolling past several sections of mundane filler, she stopped at a particular paragraph as she began to feel ill for even attempting to do so. "The poor boy… so that's why he so fiercely protected Ms. Rose…."

"It seemed he had a rough past..." After looking through several more tabs, Ozpin opened up the next file, this one being of Akira Kurusu. "I fully inspected the other two, but isn't this one in particular rather off?"

"How so?" Once again, Glynda read through the file, and yet this one still felt somewhat normal, compared to the bluenette's. Although there were a few instances of bad luck here and there, the dark-haired Faunus's life seemed rather plain for a huntsman-in-training. "Are you sure, Professor Ozpin? Apart from his training, he appears… rather normal, for a student."

"Normal, yes. However, don't you think it's a little _too_ normal?" Ozpin mused out loud, "Although countless events in each individual's life may mirror similarities with their peers, doesn't this one seem to do this particularly well?"

"You mean it blends in with all the others?" The blonde felt a heavy presence on her chest.

"Precisely. A loosely scattered thread of mismatched stories, all sewn together by the hand of a master craftsman."

* * *

Yu quietly leaned against the cold elevator wall, his back hunched and his eyes in deep thought. He steadily watched the distant rings of white slowly descend from one floor to another as it highlighted their eventual destination in a bright luminous halo, followed by a faint bing and the opening of two sliding steel doors.

"Come on, let's go sort this out with the others while we can." Minato turned to him, a comforting smile appearing on his face. Stepping into a dimly-lit lobby containing a scarcely filled reception, the reflected light from the elevator quickly disappeared from his face, leaving a colorless plain of gray.

"Do you think they'll believe me…?" A tinge of pain clung at his chest. Everyone was still recovering from the shock, some taking it worse than others. What would he even say?

"We'll have to make them believe either way. There's no way around it this time." The somber bluenette took the lead, heading for the dorms. He stopped at a particular gray door on the side of a barren hallway. "If we don't, Akira will be in far more trouble than we could imagine."

"..."

Minato tilted his head in a silent gesture, as if asking if the other was ready, which was quickly met with a small nod. Then, in the span of a heartbeat, the door to their dorm instantly swung open, leading into a room populated with several concerned faces.

"Finally! I was wondering if the Professor had held you guys for a police interrogation, too." Weiss sat on the side of a neatly made bed, her arms firmly crossed in a childish pout.

"Weiss!" A low whisper came from an irate Ruby, condemning the heiress for her rude comment, as did several other faces.

"So what did Ozpin say?" Yang eyed them for an eager answer, her fists already curled in the ideal form for an attacking brawler, fire burning in her lilac gaze.

"Guys, guys… maybe it's best we don't jump to hasty conclusions here." Jaune gave a nervous smile, lifting both of his hands to do a pushing motion in the air.

"I'm with Jaune, it's best that we hear everything from Yu _before_ judging Akira's actions. After having time to think about this, doesn't it seem odd to everyone that Akira would attack him out of the blue like this?" Although Pyrrha agreed to hear out the entire story, her face told an entirely different one in the form of a weary and troubled air hanging loosely from her fair visage.

"Thanks, Pyrrha." Yu stepped forward, feeling all of the group's heads turn to his a slow and deep breath, he began his explanation. "As I said before… Akira was only trying to help—" he was cut off by a few grunts from both Weiss and Yang, "Akira was trying to knock some sense into me for something I shouldn't have said…." He re-worded his statement to be more clear.

"Was that the reason why you two were on the roof?" Blake inquired in curiosity, there was oddly concern in her eyes.

"Yeah, it was for a personal matter. I was the one who asked him for help after all." Yu admitted with a bitter taste in his mouth.

"Wait, you're telling me that you told the guy who pulled a _knife_ on you to meet on the school roof?" Yang said in shock and disbelief, watching the other as if he were a mad man.

"Yang's right. Teammate or not, asking that Faunus after what he did to you was simply irresponsible." The snow-white heiress chided, her voice filled with a sharp, condescending air, looking down on her Atlesian counterpart.

"As if you were any better." Blake shot back, being reminded of how Weiss had treated Akira when they first met.

"What? No, from what I was told, he pointed that knife at him just based on the mere fact that he was from Atlas. If anything, my actions were completely justified!" Fearing an attack on her reputation as a Schnee, the heiress of the Dust company had no choice but to defend herself.

"Well, maybe if you didn't behave like such a brat, he wouldn't have thought to raise his weapon at a citizen of Atlas in the first place." Weiss reeled back, ready to flame the darkly-dressed girl.

"Weiss, Blake, please calm down!" Ruby stepped in between her two teammates, fearing another heated of argument would ensue. "We're not here to fight." The red-hooded huntress-in-training said in a firm voice, avoiding the death glares from her snowy teammate and the cold hostility of the other.

"If you both want to share anything with the group, you can." Minato made sure to pound in the humiliation, "Remember, we'll be here to remember this all later."

"Yu, please go on…." Pyrrha felt herself tiring out already. "Can you tell us why you believe Akira was innocent?"

After a moment of pause, the boy started up again, "Because Akira _isn't_ the person you guys thought he was."

"He isn't?" Nora found herself leaning in to the conversation, wild imaginations of what Yu meant flooding her mind, none of which were close to the truth. Among the room of students, many had expressions ranging from light confusion to even heavy confirmations of their own suspicions.

"It's true, I can bear witness for him." Minato was met with several raised brows.

"Akira wasn't an assassin, nor was he a bad guy. To be fully honest, I trusted him enough to call him out onto the roof. I was the one who prompted him to attack me with my words."

"Before anyone comments something stupid, it was extremely private." Minato raised a sharp warning, preventing any idiotic comments.

"And you expect us to believe that?" Weiss's face creased.

"But that still gives us no solid proof—" Yang felt her sister cut her off. Ruby stood up and walked to the center of the crowd.

"Guys, I don't think we should pry any further." She gave Yu a sympathetic look before turning to the rest, spreading out her arms in a wide gesture. "I'm sure we all have stuff we wouldn't want to share openly with everyone else. If Yu felt so trusting of Akira that he was willing to talk to him about something so private, then they must have been good friends."

"You know what, guys? Ruby's got a point, I don't think I would be comfortable with sharing my secrets with just anyone." Jaune shrugged, supporting the small girl.

"I'm sure we can all relate…." For a split second, Blake eyed her bow.

"And for anyone who still has their doubts? You can," the bluenette approached his fiery childhood friend, "please give Akira a second chance."

Yang saw Minato reach out a hand, a pleading look crossing his face while a visage of frustration lined her own.

"I bet my own reputation as a leader on it." He felt the blonde scrutinize his every word, passing judgement on his every action in dead silence. Seconds turned to minutes, and minutes seemed to stretch on to the end of time as he waited for an answer. And then it happened.

"Fine…" Yang sighed, admitting defeat to the bluenette. "But if you're wrong, then I'm going to beat him into oblivion." She took his hand, still unsure of what to think of the situation.

* * *

"So all we need to do now is search for him?" Yang said hesitantly, walking out of the room with the others, her younger sister and Minato by her side.

"Any idea where he might be?" Ruby didn't know the young man well enough to guess.

"Maybe try the local hotel chains?" Blake kept pace with everyone.

"He couldn't have ran far, it's only been a day." Pyrrha added.

"My guess would be that we should ask around the city first." Minato suggested, continuing to trade plans back and forth between the group. While the bluenette was having some success in organizing a search party, Yu wasn't so fortunate. Instead of meeting back up with any of the others, he found an annoyed Weiss blocking his path forward. And as the snowy princess kept her stubborn stance, tapping one foot on the floor, he heard the group ahead slowly growing more and more distanced until they were fully swallowed by the colorful chaos that was the Beacon campus.

"Um, can I help you?" Their meeting was starting to get awkward.

"We need to talk." she refused to move.

"About what? Look, you really need to take my word for it, he really wasn't doing anything wro—"

"No, not about that, you dolt. Why are you so fiercely defending the Faunus? You do realize what their kind has done to our respective families, right?" Without much hesitation, she again put her loathing of the Faunus race on full display, although it was more the face of a hurt child than any real anger towards the boy. His differing stance on Faunus-kind had been irking her for a while.

"There are no differences between Faunus and humans, as far as I'm concerned." Yu replied dryly. A frown had made its way onto his face.

"How can you say that? Humans aren't the ones targeting our aren't the ones killing off our family friends, or kidnapping our board members for ransom. Why do you continue to support these… these monsters?" Unlike her childish fits of rage from before, she looked genuinely frightened from being reminded of the savage actions of the animal-traited humanoids, her arms wrapping her body like a protective cocoon, followed by a serious rage in her icy-blue eyes. An intense cocktail of fear, anger, and morbid curiosity had prompted her to approach the heir for answers. Answers she would never get back home. "Weren't you targeted too, when you were a child…?"

"Yeah, I was." Yu said rather blunt, "But I'm not scared of them like the rest of Altas."

"Scared?" Weiss was about to go on another tantrum of pride. However, she was thankfully halted by his next words.

"Tell me, if you believe all Faunus to be evil, how many actual Faunus have you met in real life?"

"Why would I ever meet with a sav—"

"Just tell me!" It wasn't a question anymore, but rather a firm demand. "Think back to your entire life, how many Faunus have you actually met apart from those blasted rumors and stories?" Yu observed the troubled princess as she scrambled to form any coherent reply, her mind rattled by the revelation.

"N-none… at all." Weiss began to pale, "B-but still doesn't change that the fact that they rob and murder humans!" She became more flustered.

"And humans murder humans. Contracted huntsmen from the underground do just as much damage as some of the Faunus. Reason why I said there's no difference between the two. Evil isn't just a trait of one race, just as good isn't present in everyone we meet." The heir reasoned. In a way, he may never understand the harsh stand-off between the two races, due to his alien perspective as a foreigner of this world.

"Then what about the White Fang? They're nothing but animals that go around doing horrible things to people!" The heiress countered. To her, every Faunus must have been affiliated with or supported them in some way.

"Have you ever visited the Schnee mines in Mantle? Many have no choice but to join that radical group. Being severely maltreated, coupled with no real opportunity to pull themselves out of poverty, joining the White Fang was their only choice." His first time in Mantle had left him a horrible impression of the new world, and his times after had made him question the morality of the humans in Remnant.

"Ugh, are you implying that the Schnee Dust company is partly responsible for those scrooges in the White Fang?!" Although she tried to deny that thought, the poor treatment and injustice committed in that part of Remnant did lend credit to the theory. "I refuse to believe such outlandish jests—"

"Then how about you tell me why they do the things they do." Yu's eyes narrowed, his borrows becoming more furrowed as time went on.

"B-Because they want to wipe out humanity! They despise humans!" Weiss stomped on the floor, throwing down her fists from the air, seeming ready to go to war with the entire Faunus race.

"And why do you think they hate humanity?" Outraged and in denial, she tried to come up with a counter, but he started to walk away.

"H-hey!" Seeing that the heir was about to leave, Weiss attempted to intercept him again, only to be caught mid way by the arm, locking her in place while she felt bitter silver orbs leer into her own, causing the girl to take a few steps back while trying to shake herself free of the male's death grip. "L-let go!"

"Maybe it's the same reason you fear them as they fear you." She felt his hand tighten even more, forcing her to try even harder to break. And yet just as suddenly as the massive force had curled around her arm, it lifted, leaving her confused and broken form standing in the middle of the endless halls. "Don't believe everything the elites tell you…." Giving the girl one last look of brief understanding, he went on his way and faded from her world.

On that particular day and particular time, for reasons she could not describe, she was left entirely drained, in body, mind, and soul. Without the energy to do much else, she opened the door to her dorm and curled up in bed with a pillow in arms, exhausted and alone. And as her imaginary world of perfect idealism crumbled in the sea of her mind, a fairy tale castle built out of years of spotty stories and twisted lies shattered into a thousand icy shards, freeing her of her chilly prison.

* * *

"Ohhh, it's been days!" Ruby slumped her head on the cafe table, her legs aching from traversing through half of the city and her will to go on crushed by the lack of progress.

"Want me to get you another sundae? Minato casually sipped from a glass of iced tea, petting the girl on her head as if to comfort her. It was another fine day in the city of Vale, as cars hurriedly zoomed by the congested roads, creating large, elaborate displays of clogged traffic for miles to come, while a wave of constant murmurs settled in and around every corner of every business and every building in the metropolis. A group of chattering girls strolled by, immersed in the latest celebrity gossip, while a parade of businessmen each glued themselves to their scrolls, standing near a populated crosswalk, all desperately trying to beat the unrelenting city crowd.

"Don't you think that's a little much, Ruby?" Yang sat between the two, enjoying a frozen dessert of her own, eating the last of her ice cream.

"Lies, one can ever eat enough ice cream!" Childishly pouting and slamming her fist onto the table, Ruby made sure to hide her face from the blazing afternoon sun by closely hugging the shadow of the wide parasol stationed in the middle of the table.

"But still… this is a problem," Blake said in a low whisper, turning to the vast jungle of people before her, "Finding him in a population as large and dense as this will take a while." Despite their mad efforts to scour every available hotel, establishment, and business in Vale, none seem to have encountered the elusive frizzy-haired Faunus.

"His Semblance alone poses a huge problem." Having the ability to literally disappear from sight and hide his presence from pretty much anyone, Minato really wasn't surprised that Akira would use this against them in the harshest way possible. He inwardly sighed to himself. If only he had a Persona like her's. The ability of clairvoyance was extremely underrated.

"Not to mention how she labeled him a criminal…." Blake gazed at her own reflection in the glass, seeing a frown spread across her visage.

"Speaking of Weiss, I don't think I've seen her around lately." Yang's memory of the heiress was hazy at best, but the absence of her constant bickering had left the blonde feeling strange.

"Mmm, we should just leave her be, Yang, she doesn't look like she wants to help anyway…." Ruby groaned, shoving a big spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, making her resemble a grumpy chipmunk. Weiss's apathy and aloofness for the past week had made the optimistic huntress-in-training give up on her entirely.

"I wonder how the others are doing." Minato held his head to the sky. As of now, no response had come from the group chat.

* * *

Scraps of garbage laid across aged concrete streets and beaten alleyways. All places dirty and covered, overgrown and bare, robbed of their former complexions and function. Yet, the roads weren't any better, as fissures and pot holes of various lengths and sizes weaseled their way onto the battered cement that served and suffered through decades of neglect and disrepair. As though the inhabitants of the land had all gotten up one day and left this part of the city for years.

Crumbling and worn buildings stood side to side from one another, briefly conjuring up horrific images of monstrous Siamese twins with their surreal and warped appearance, from the blackened holes sealed tightly with rotting wood as if to keep some terrific entity on the other side from breaking out, to another that had been burned and gutted to the ground, leaving it a shell of its former self. Once again, it seemed as if all life had decided to leave this desolate place.

Weiss keenly inspected the area, concealing her rapier behind her oversized sleeve, as she stood beneath a malfunctioning street light that flickered in the afternoon light. Carefully, she matched the CCTV screencap of the street sign from her scroll to the one loosely hanging by a thread, slowly swaying in the wind. Hours ago, she had gotten the opportunity to inspect several days worth of CCTV footage from the Vale city police department due her vast connections as a Schnee, and now a particular hint from the cams had led her here.

"Excuse me!" She called out to a passing figure from the spotty area, who appeared to be a young deer Faunus. However, instead of getting the answers the heiress wanted, the figure's eyes widened at the sight of the well-dressed human and began to make a break for the closest alleyway. "H-Hey! Come back!" Sighing to herself, she tried a few more times with a few others, all ending up in complete failure, leaving her once again alone among the dead streets and broken neighbourhood. But then, it happened.

Suddenly, and without warning, she twisted around and swing her rapier, feeling a large gust of wind that was followed by a strong, blond blur colliding with her in the middle of the street, forcing the both of them to fall backwards to the ground.

"What in the world?!" Yet, before she could react, she saw a golden-haired male jolt up instantly from his position, yanking her by her arm and starting to dash away between several abandoned buildings while holding a bag of apples in his arms. "What are you doing?!" She struggled, trying to jab her blade into her assailant's head, swinging wildly only to miss each hit while they finally settled in an alley.

"Shhh, quiet!" the male gestured, putting a finger to his mouth, frantically turned back and forth to make sure they weren't being followed.

"And why should I listen to your demands, you filthy stree—!"

"The White Fang would _kill_ you if they saw a human in these parts!" The reply had only served to rile up the girl even more, disgust in her enraged eyes.

"White Fang—?!" She was briefly hushed when a few hooded figures brandishing several high-powered firearms came rushing out from the darkness.

"Search the premises, they couldn't have run far!" A distant voice shouted, followed by countless pairs of footsteps treading the ground beneath them.

"Hey, what are you...?" The stranger said in a panicked whisper, trying to hold the girl back.

"I'm going to teach them a lesson. Let me go…!" Weiss felt her hands tighten on her rapier as a chilly wind swept through the alley, causing the other to shiver.

"Listen, those guys are freaks! Normally, even I could kick their asses, but they have something weird going on!" The golden-haired male begged, desperately trying to hold her back from what was the equilvant of a suicide misson.

"And how about you _listen_!" Weiss directed her blade at the male, forcing him to flinch, feeling her icy-cold gaze burn a hole through his head. However, they were interrupted by what could only be described as an abrupt shock wave spreading across earth, rocking the ground back and forth while a colossal tornado of green wind shot up into the atmosphere, instantly engulfing any buildings or debris in the surroundings of its hungry rampage.

"See?! That's what I mean!" The male pointed at the large spiraling object in utter shock, "Those freaks have some kind of new wacko Dust in their hands!"

"There he is!" Soon, another choir of shouts sounded, accompanied by a hail storm of bullets that broke through the low howls of the twisting wind, penetrating parts of the brittle concrete buildings that crumbled to the floor with a loud thud.

"What's going on...?" Stunned and beyond shaken, the heiress braced the sharp winds and hurried to the battlefield. There was no Dust combination that could produce such collateral damage in one go. Putting an arm in front of her face to shield herself from the litter now flying in the air, she hurried to gain a better vantage point between two gutted buildings and widened her eyes at what she could make out as a lone figure trapped in the vertical wind tunnel surrounded by a squad of White Fang members.

"Hahaha! Is that all you've got?! And here I was worried for a second!" A low, booming laughter bellowed out from the massive emerald tornado, shocking a few hooded Faunus that decided to take a few steps back, raise their guns, and become ready to shoot on command.

"No way! Is that guy still alive?!" Weiss could see the disbelief and awe in the golden male's eyes. Then they both saw what appeared to be the squad leader put a special cartridge in his rifle and shoot out a rushing torrent of solid ice the size of several city blocks, which ran through the tornado and the figure inside. "Oh shit!"

There was a moment of tense silence.

The White Fang lowered their guns.

A small smirk started to spread across each of their faces, only to be broken by another shout.

"You call that a Bufudyne?! Pathetic!" As if the Heavens and earth decided to completely disregard the laws of nature, the ever-strong winds started to expand and be forced apart until it exploded along with the ice, sending a brutal wave of diamond dust to all of the surroundings, knocking down the squad of White Fang and throwing them back into slates of concrete.

"I-is that?!" Weiss wanted to charge straight out of her hiding spot, but held herself back.

"Wait! You know him?!" The blond sounded equally freaked, closely clinging on the window frame.

There, standing in the middle of the ruined battlefield was single dark-hooded figure with a black mask on his face and menacing silver eyes covered in tufts of messy raven hair. His arm outstretched in wide showman like gesture, as he started to pace toward the remaining White Fang members.

"S-stay away, you m-monster!" A large, hooded male held up his gun, clearly terrified out of his mind of the freak before him.

"You scum already had your turn. I think it's only fair that I got mine." The masked figure twirled his hand, forming a pistol out of pure azure that spat out bullets of flaming blue, sending them flying into several idle Faunus and knocking them out in an instant. The lone figure was left standing among a pile of unconscious bodies as the dust cleared.

"Should we run—?!" A bullet rushed between the two bystanders.

"You both can come out now." The masked male didn't move, until he saw who it was that stood up from her hiding spot. "Schnee…" He said the name with all of the world's curses.

"W-wait! Akira! I was looking for you!" Weiss admitted honestly, making sure that her weapon was visible and on the floor, implying that she had no plans of attacking the other.

"Yeah! What she said!" Unlike the girl, the blond beside her sounded somewhat rattled.

He lowered his gun. "Let's go. This isn't a safe place to talk."

* * *

"So what were you doing in prime White Fang territory?" Akira sat parallel to the other two in a small secluded café, sipping on a cup of brown coffee.

"To look for you." Weiss adamantly repeated herself again, crossing her arms.

"Lies."

"I'm telling the truth!" The heiress slammed a palm on the table, lighty shaking the condiments.

Feeling the huntress-in-training's gaze shred into his being, Akira raised a brow, "And why would a Schnee like _you_ be looking for a Faunus criminal such as myself?" He could see her face crease, but continued on "Don't tell you came to personally execute me yourself—!"

"NO!" No, no! When did I ever say that?!" Weiss's face became a hot tomato red, feeling a great urge to run her rapier through the other's face.

"Whoa there, man, she's clearly trying to help you here." The golden blond showed his monkey-like tail. "I'm a Faunus too, see? You can trust my word."

"Who exactly are you?"

"Sun Wukong! Just arrived from Mistral, you?" The friendly Faunus gave a cheery grin.

"Akira Kurusu." Akira greeted him with his signature frown, heavy bags under his eyes.

"Come on bro, not even a smile?" Sun was promptly ignored as the raven-haired male turned to Weiss.

"And you know him how?"

"I ran into him while looking for you." Weiss tried to shrug off their strange encounter, pointing at the blond Faunus.

"Look, she's really telling the truth, man. There's no way a girl like her would willingly wander into an area like that alone." What Sun thought was a good argument had earned him a jab from the snowy girl.

Akira watched the two bicker in a long, drawn out silence, carefully weighing his options. He gave a tired sigh, "Fine… let's say I believe you. Why have you come searching for me?"

"First, you have to tell me what _you_ were doing in a prime White Fang hot spot." Instead of straight up giving him the answer, the heiress couldn't help but want an equal exchange of information. "And what were those strange types of Dust? How did you… survive?"

"I didn't agree to swap information, nor do you have anything I would want. I could leave whenever I want to, you know?" All of his words were filled with a degree of bitterness, his eyes narrowed and his voice cutting through the air like a piercing blade.

"F-fine! I came here to get you to go back to Beacon!"

"Absolutely not."

"W-what? Why?! Everyone's been worried sick about you! They've all been searching for you none stop!" Frustration, anger, and disbelief boiled equally in her system.

"Because I'm not wanted there, remember? I tried to murder an elite from Atlas." Every sound, every word stung him the more he recalled that memory.

"Yu explained the whole thing, it wasn't your fault…." Weiss's eyes drooped, a wave of guilt washing over her heart. "Professor Ozpin understands too… so please, you won't get in any trouble…." Her last words were a lie, or so it appeared.

"What gave you a change of heart?" Although Akira held his poker face, deep down he had a different reaction.

"N-nothing! Akira! ...I'm s-sorry for insulting you and your heritage…." All the years of unjustified hatred and blind zealous fury had hit her like a speeding train, completely obliterating any old sense of self. Her years in the Schnee manor had taught her to be apologizing and cold, but after experiencing the real world, her lessons with her father seemed to contrast with it as much as night and day. It made her wonder, just for a moment, exactly how many other callous behaviors her family installed into her while she was trapped in that prison.

In the midst of her apology, something familiar and warm trailed down her fair face. A drop of transparent liquid clung to the edge of her visage. Then, a gentle hand could be felt on her shoulder as she looked up to a softened Akira, a faint smile gracing his once solemn face.

"You wanted me back in Beacon, yes?"

* * *

"Guys! Guys! You won't believe this!" Jaune burst open the door to the JNPR dorm, gasping for air as he tried to relay the unexpected news, shocking everyone inside.

"Jaune, calm down. Can you tell us what's going on?" Yang was the first to get up from her seat.

"Oh! Is this a surprise?!" Nora jumped, giddy and excited for whatever was to come next.

"Did something happen?" Blake asked, curious.

"I-it's Akira! He's back! A-and you guys won't believe who he's with!" Finally breaking the suspense, the blond broke the news in one triumphant shout, which alerted the whole group.

"Who…?" Yu said in awe, treating the moment as if it were a surreal dream. Who could have convinced the boy to come back?

"Weiss!"

"WHAT?!" Without another word shared amongst the band of worried first-years, they all fumbled outside, dashing toward the campus entrance with several bodies almost colliding into one another upon reaching their destination. They saw three figures standing in the dusk of the brilliant sun. Two males and a girl; one with twitching obsidian cat ears, one with a long monkey tail, and finally, a short snowy-haired human girl.

"Akira! We were so worried about you!" Ruby shouted atop the chaos as everyone clustered together, forming a half circle around the three. "Weiss, how you were able to find him?"

"We looked all over the city for you." Yang couldn't help but be happy that there would be no more search parties in future, and maybe for the Faunus's return.

"You don't look so well." Blake observed the tiredness in his eyes.

"And who's the new guy?" Nora finally decided to address the third figure in the crowd, which was followed by a murmur of agreements.

"We should go discuss this in the dorms. It's a long story." Before anyone else could ask any more questions, Weiss promised to answer the endless stream of questions once everyone hurried back, quickly dispersing the small gathering as they all trailed back. She watched each and every one of her peers file back into the building, leaving only her and Yu.

"Hey… um..." She didn't know what to say, averting her eyes while feeling a wave of embarrassment.

"Thank you."

"Huh?" Surprise and confusion laced her face, finding a kind smile on the boy's face. What she expected as another bitter lecture turned into a warm expression of gratitude. "F-for what…?" Her breathing halted, her movements ceased, and she felt a large knot in her throat preventing her from speaking any more words.

"Seeking your own truth." Yu replied softly.

She became even more perplexed, "Aren't you at least going to thank me for bringing him back? It was anything _but_ easy, you know!" She pouted, sassily placing a hand on her hips, as if teaching the other a lesson. Then she heard him chuckle.

"That too..."

"What's so funny?" His laughter only grew louder as they started to walk back.

"N-nothing." He just kept going.

"Yu Narukami! I demand you to explain yourself!" Weiss followed closely behind, childishly praying for an answer, all the while feeling an odd fluffy sensation in her heart. Despite not knowing the mystery of the boy's sudden burst of laughter, deep down, she understood the meaning of his previous words. For one to seek their own truth, they must abandon all forms of established beliefs from the external world and instead, focus on the ongoings of the inner world, letting their own ideals and thoughts gently raise up to the surface, unspoiled by any outside influence.

* * *

"So I was running from these thugs, right?" Sun tried to imitate a sprinting motion in the dorm, while people either cheered him on or eagerly awaited for more of the story.

"Am I correct to assume that you are here for the Vytal Festival, Sun?" Pyrrha inferred based on the previous information, mainly that the blond was a student of Haven.

"You bet! Me and my team are gonna take this, no doubt about it!" Suddenly, there was a sense of fierce competition in the room, causing everyone to cluster into their own team groups.

"Yeah right! Team RWBY is going to obliterate the competition! Ruby jumped onto a chair, bursting into an exaggerated mean laughter while both Blake and Yang stood beside her in a mocking victory pose.

"Hmmm, I dunno about that." Minato had a sly smile, amused by the little display of power, laying on the floor while drinking a glass of orange juice.

"W-why do you say that?!"

The bluenette's face shifted to a silly evil grin. "Hue hue hue! You really believe you can beat your big bro in a match—ack!"

"Drink your damn orange juice." Yang grabbed the glass and forcefully shoved the orange liquid down his throat, causing a slight choking noise, followed by his body going limp.

"Nooooo, Yang! You killed him! How are we going to dispose of the body?!" Ruby cried large comical tears, grabbing all the snacks in the room to bury the damning evidence that was the bluenette's corpse.

"Hey, Yang, wasn't that a _little_ too rough?" Jaune felt slightly worried and everyone agreed, each giving odd looks to the siblings.

Yet, instead of addressing the crowd, Yang held up three fingers, "Wait for it... 3…2..1!" As if by some ungodly force of the netherworld, when the blonde reached the last number, Minato instantly jolted up from his shallow grave of soft drinks and potato chips and went for a right hook that was swiftly blocked by the blonde, trapping the two in a stalemate while they leered into each other.

"Nice try, but it'll take much more than choking to get rid of me." Minato gave a savage smile that was matched with Yang's flaming red eyes as the two started trading blows inside the enclosed room that eventually lead them both to crash into the walls of the hallway outside.

"Yang… Minato?" For whatever reason, Weiss felt a playful yet deathy aura from the downed pair on the floor, each still wrestling for dominance.

"Oh, Weiss, Yu! There you are!" The golden brawler raised an arm and tried to sock her friend right in the face, but missed by an inch as the bluenette tried to do the same.

"Are you two alright?" Yu watched, puzzled and unsure of what to make of the scene.

"Eh, you two go on ahead, we'll decide on a winner eventually." Minato said rather casually, holding back another of Yang's deadly assaults.

"Ok, if you say so…" Weiss dragged Yu inside before quickly closing the door. "We should ignore them."

"Agreed."

"You were really brave to go into a gang-ridden territory like that, Weiss." Ruby chirped, obviously proud of her teammate.

"Oh, uh, really, Ruby? Yeah!" The snowy heiress was caught completely off guard by the comment.

"Using the CCTV like that was quite commendable." For the first time, Blake expressed a liking in the icy huntress-in-training.

"You guys should have totally seen how many thugs there were, it was crazy! One was fighting with this really weird gun and the other was like really agile and stuff." Sun did his best to paint as clear a picture of the battle as possible, including almost all of its participants. However, nowhere in his story were bizarre types of Dust or someone forming a magical azure gun.

"Really? What did these gang members look like?" The descriptions felt odd to Blake, as it reminded her of certain people from her past.

"Ummm, they were, uhh—"

"Mostly people in plain street clothing and sporting visible tattoos." Just as Sun was having trouble conjuring up a faux group of people, Akira stepped in to take control of the conversation.

"Sounds like an unwelcome bunch." Nora cracked her knuckles, "Hehe, I bet you guys broke their legs, didn't ya?"

"Well, I wouldn't say we were _that_ uncivilized." Weiss mused out loud while feeling a certain dark-haired girl watch in silent suspicion.

"We broke their legs, we broke them _hard_." Akira said in a skilled deadpan, although there was a glimpse of mirth expressed in his eyes.

"I'm not sure who I should believe at this point." Ren sighed.

"Either way, we're glad to have you back, Akira." Yu reach out a hand.

"You're awfully happy today." A chuckle came from the other as he shook his hand.

"I'm sorry for what I said before."

"Me too."

"Hyaaaa! Take this!" Suddenly, and without much warning, a large blast of yellow fire split the two apart as Yang burst through the wall with an evil looking Minato catching her from behind.

"Ow!" Yu's body flew toward the hard concrete, slamming into it at full force, only to be caught by a black Gravity glyph. "Thanks…"

"Once again, you owe me." Weiss flicked her hair, only to have Akira drop on her form after losing his grip on the dorm ceiling.

"Get off!"

"Hahahahaha!" Just as the snowy heiress tried to shove the dead weight off of her, she could hear a red hooded, pint-sized girl bellow in unrelenting laughter at the ridiculous scene. Ruby's giggles eventually started infecting the other inhabitants in the room until half of the dorm was in a loud uproar, while the others started to brawl with each other. It was not until midnight did everyone drop and crash to the floor in deep slumber. Many fell asleep where they were, but some mustered the last of their energy to trudge back to their rooms.

* * *

Droplets of water ran down the drain in a steady river, subtly breaking into several smaller paths as it started to flow along to its eventual destination. Puffs of white steam covered the area in a cloudy ethereal reality as the figure turned off the shower faucet. Akira got dressed, draping a towel over his shoulder and stepped into the room, relaxing his stiff muscles. He closed his eyes, inhaling a deep breath. It had been a day.

"You done?" Minato sat next to a work desk along with Yu.

Akira dried his hair, cracking open a bottle of soda. "Yeah"

"Good, because we have a lot to talk about." The bluenette's face grew dark, pale, and deathly serious, holding a bright scroll in his hands.


End file.
